


Change of Heart

by aquariuslover



Series: Expectations! [6]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, Star Trek, Super Junior
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Secrets, Food, Genderswap, Kim Heechul | Is Fabulous, M/M, Telepathic Bond, Telepathy, sex planet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-21 07:44:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14280261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquariuslover/pseuds/aquariuslover
Summary: After a trip to a planet dedicated to the joy of sex, some crew members find themselves unexpectedly transformed. Jaejoong discovers the secret to Changmin’s heart. Romance and lust run amok on the Starship Expectations as unlikely couples unite.





	1. All These Bitches!

“Figures we are on a planet full of sex toys, and the only thing that gets the Lieutenant’s blood pumping is the mysterious technology,” Commander Yoochun groused at the younger man who was completely obsessed with the machinery in front of him.  
  
“I am hemodynamically stable, so my blood is always pumping,” Lieutenant Jung replied, not taking his eyes off the mysterious machinery in front of him.  
  
Commander Yoochun couldn’t fight the grin that formed on his face at the other man’s words and relented, “I must admit this technology is highly unusual and interesting.”  
  
Ryeowook fought to keep from groaning aloud. If Yoochun and Changmin were both interested in the technology on this planet then, the mission might drag on for hours. Ryeowook kicked himself for not insisting on going back to the ship with the captain and Jaejoong. He just hadn’t felt comfortable with leaving the away team without a doctor, although he left the ship in the hands of Heechul, which was highly questionable even on a good day. Ryeowook sucked on his bottom lip, and thought for the thousandth time there had to be something he could do for Heechul and Leeteuk…it was such a senseless waste.  
  
“It’s more advanced than what we found on the rest of the planet, too,” Lieutenant Donghae, who was standing behind Commander Yoochun and Changmin, pointed out.  
  
Changmin nodded his head in agreement and added, “It’s highly sophisticated, and older. It was not made by the same race of people.”  
  
“It wasn’t. This is true artistry,” Commander Yoochun agreed as he examined the technology with admiration.  
  
“Do we have stay with you?” Shindong, who was serving as their guide, asked longingly. The planet was full of pleasures which he was eager to explore. “Perhaps, I could spend some time in the-”  
  
Sungmin, who was standing beside Ryeowook, interrupted, quickly putting an end to that line of thought, “No, we all must stay together.”  
  
“The planet is deserted, and it has been deserted for centuries. I don’t see the harm in it,” Shindong persisted.  
  
Commander Yoochun, who had opened a panel to examine the complex wiring inside the machinery, quickly ended Shindong’s whining. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t see the harm or not. This is a mission. I am in command, and we are all staying together.”  
  
“Boring,” Shindong mumbled to himself.  
  
Sungmin and Ryeowook, who had both overheard him, shared an uneasy glance with each other, both silently agreeing with Shindong.  
  
  
************************  
  
_“I refuse to wear it. I am not letting you dress me up.”_  
  
Jaejoong, who was sitting on the bed completely naked, with his arms and legs folded, just glared at Yunho.  _“I will do it for you in return. Just tell me, and I will wear anything you want me to.”_  
  
Yunho stepped out of the dressing chamber, fully dressed in his uniform.  _“It’s not going to work. I have no need to dress you up…I love you just the way you are.”_  
  
“Urgh! You make me so mad!” Jaejoong shrieked. “I fulfill your every need, and you can’t even do this for me?”  
  
“We fulfill each other’s needs,” Yunho replied calmly.  
  
Jaejoong reached across the bed to grab a bowl of chocolate covered strawberries and reminded Yunho, “It’s always about what you want. We beamed back to the ship, because you were horny as hell.”  
  
“You were, too!”  
  
“I was only that way because you were! We are bonded! That tacky planet has no affect on my libido.”  
  
_“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,”_ Yunho mentally counted to ten, calming himself before responding to his annoyed lover.  
  
“Stop patronizing me! I know you are counting!” Jaejoong exclaimed, throwing a strawberry at Yunho.  
  
Yunho ducked just in time, and then walked over to Jaejoong and placed both of his hands on the top of his lover’s shoulders. Yunho looked down at him and declared, “I am not dressing up like another man, especially one that you found attractive. And most certainly not one you kissed!”  
  
“On the hand! I kissed him on the hand, and he was you! He was a version of you!”  
  
Yunho squeezed Jaejoong’s shoulders, massaging them, hoping to calm the other man down. “Jae, I love you more than I thought it possible to ever love anybody, but it isn’t going to happen.”  
  
Jaejoong frowned and popped another strawberry in his mouth, while he avoided Yunho’s gaze.  
  
“Now, I have to go check on the progress of the away mission,” Yunho told him calmly, not letting go of the other man.  
  
_“Are we okay?”_ Yunho asked mentally when Jaejoong refused to answer him verbally.  
  
Jaejoong looked up at Yunho, but didn’t answer telepathically or verbally. Jaejoong did, however, pick up another chocolate-covered strawberry, and stuffed it in Yunho’s mouth.  
  
Yunho pulled away from Jaejoong and smiled down at his mate as he slowly chewed the strawberry.  _“I love you.”_  
  
*******************  
  
“Report,” Yunho ordered as he stepped onto the bridge.  
  
Kyuhyun got up from the captain’s chair and answered, “Commander Yoochun and Lieutenant Jung are examining some technology they find…interesting.”  
  
“Great, we will be stuck here for days now,” Yunho told him as he sat down in the captain’s chair.  
  
Kyuhyun took his seat beside the captain and suggested, “I was thinking perhaps I should go down there. You know how Yoochun and Changmin can get when they find a new toy.”  
  
Yunho smiled at his first in command. “You just want to go down and see the sex planet.”  
  
“Well, that, but mostly to keep an eye on the mission.” Yunho gave Commander Cho a very suspicious look, and Kyuhyun explained further, “A planet full of sex toys and mysterious technology…I just think Yoochun could become easily distracted.”  
  
“And Changmin…” Yunho prompted.  
  
Kyuhyun immediately added, “Changmin can get distracted when he finds something fascinating.”  
  
“And that’s why I left Lieutenant Lee with them. He is more than capable of keeping them on the right path.”  
  
Kyuhyun frowned. “Yes, sir.”  
  
Yunho reached over and patted Commander Cho’s arm. “Plus Dr. Cho would kill me if I unleashed you on him…down on that planet.”  
  
“Captain, I assure you…I would be nothing but professional.”  
  
“Do you really want to be on a planet dedicated to sexual pleasure with both Dr. Cho and…” Yunho paused and mouthed the word ‘Sungmin’ to Commander Cho.  
  
Commander Cho winced. “Good point. I shall never doubt your wisdom again.”  
  
Eunhyuk sat back in his chair at the navigator’s post and complained, “It just isn’t fair.”  
  
“Huh?” Junsu, from his seat at the helm beside Eunhyuk, questioned.  
  
“Donghae gets to go to a sex planet, and what do we get? We get giant space worms, walking fungus, and vampires,” Eunhyuk moaned.  
  
“I also got giant, man-eating bears,” Junsu added.  
  
Eunhyuk turned to study his friend suspiciously. “Although it probably wouldn’t be safe for you down there; Commander Yoochun would no doubt-”  
  
“He is better now! We are friends,” Junsu yelped, interrupting Eunhyuk’s line of thought.  
  
Eunhyuk snorted. “I saw him pinching your ass the other day.”  
  
“Only once a month though! For friendship’s sake!”  
  
“For friendship’s sake…Junsu, you are not starting to like it, are you?”  
  
“No! Commander Yoochun and I are only friends!” Junsu declared, getting up from his chair to glare down at Eunhyuk.  
  
“Ensigns!” Yunho snapped, “Behave yourself.”  
  
“Yes, Captain,” they both answered as Junsu sat back down.  
  
Commander Cho and Yunho shared a look with each other and tried not to laugh.  
  
Ensign Choi, who was manning the science station in Changmin’s absence, stepped forward, “Captain, the away team missed their thirty minute check-in by four minutes.”  
  
Yunho tapped his insignia. “Commander Yoochun, report.”  
  
The whole bridge waiting quietly for the commander to respond, but no response came. Yunho stood up and tapped his insignia again. “Lieutenant Jung.”  
  
After several seconds Changmin replied, “Captain, we will be requiring your personal presence in the transporter room to beam us back to the ship.”  
  
Yunho shared a confused look with Commander Cho. “Where is Commander Yoochun, and why did he not answer me?”  
  
After a short pause Changmin answered, “Commander Yoochun and the rest of the away team are…distracted. It would be best if we return to the ship now.”  
  
“I will see you in the transporter room momentarily,” Yunho told his son.  
  
“Momentarily will be sufficient,” Changmin replied.  
  
Yunho furrowed his brows and headed toward the lift with Commander Cho at his side. Yunho paused before entering the lift and ordered, “Ensign Junsu, you have the bridge.”  
  
As soon as the captain and commander were on the lift and off the bridge, Junsu shook his fist in victory. “Yes, the bridge is mine!”  
  
“So not fair!” Eunhyuk pouted.  
  
******************  
  
Yunho and Kyuhyun walked into the transporter room to find Jaejoong leaning against the wall, waiting on them.  
  
_“How nice to see you dressed,”_  Yunho quipped mentally to his bondmate.  
  
_“You think it’s good that I have clothes on? There is something fundamentally wrong with our relationship.”_  
  
_“You know what I meant,”_  Yunho responded, refusing to be goaded into another argument by Jaejoong. Yunho and Kyuhyun then walked over to the transporter controls.  
  
“They required me to personally beam them up?”  
  
Kyuhyun looked at the captain, and did not bother to hide his worry. “That’s a highly unusual request.”  
  
Yunho hit his insignia again. “Lieutenant, per Starfleet policy when an away team misses their check-”  
  
“I am well aware of Starfleet policy; the password is rook.”  
  
Kyuhyun smiled, and Yunho frowned. “I wasn’t going to ask for that password. What was dad’s favorite Mark Twain saying?”  
  
“You are my father, and yours is ‘It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog,” but if you are referring to your father, my grandfather, then it was ‘A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.’ Have I passed?”  
  
“Smartass,” Yunho muttered under his breath and then said in a louder voice, “Beaming you up now,” Yunho replied, and went to work on transporting the away team back to the ship.  
  
Jaejoong walked up to Yunho, wrapping his arms gently around his mate’s waist, and rested his head against Yunho’s back. Sometimes he felt so envious. Yunho and Changmin had a lifetime of memories they shared between them. He felt completely connected to Yunho, but Changmin was a different story. He knew Changmin was his son, but their bond was so deeply suppressed that sometimes Jaejoong wondered it if was even there at all. Yunho and Changmin’s bond was there, and strong, but he wondered if he would ever feel anything similar to that bond with his son.  
  
Jaejoong let go of Yunho when the room was suddenly filled with a mixture of emotions…surprise, horror, anger, disgust, worry, and embarrassment.  
  
“Ryeowook,” Kyuhyun managed to squeak out.  
  
Jaejoong stepped in between Yunho and Kyuhyun and looked at the away team that had just beamed aboard. “Oh, that’s…wow,” Jaejoong muttered at a loss. His telepathy had clued him in to the problem, but it was something you had to see to believe.  
  
“You need to beam us directly to sick bay now,” Ryeowook demanded from the transporter platform. “I am not walking down the corridor.”  
  
“Me either!” Donghae quickly agreed.  
  
Changmin stepped off the transporter platform. “As I am sure, you surmised they are not in the best of moods.”  
  
“Do you want to know what kind of mood I’m in? You walking computer!” Shindong hissed while holding up his fist. “What did you do to us?”  
  
Yunho, who couldn’t take his eyes off the five people who remained on the transporter platform, asked his son, “Changmin, did you do this?”  
  
Changmin arched his left eyebrow at the question. “Not intentionally, but it might have inadvertently been a side affect of Commander Yoochun’s and my attempts to access the technology.”  
  
“Yunho, for God’s sake, beam us to sickbay and lock it down!” Yoochun ordered. “And don’t let anybody in there.”  
  
Yunho reached down for the controls to transport them to sickbay, but before he did, he couldn’t resist adding, “Yes, Ma’am.”  
  
Jaejoong giggled from beside Yunho, as the five people were beamed away.  
  
“So Changmin, you want to tell me why my husband is suddenly my wife?” Kyuhyun demanded.  
  
***************  
  
The five members of the away team, who had formerly been male, materialized in the middle of sickbay. The five were now the female versions of their prior selves, easily recognizable as the men they had once been, but most definitely female.  
  
Ryeowook immediately went to a sickbay bed, dragging Donghae along with him. “Sit,” Ryeowook ordered, and Donghae jumped up on the bed. “Computer, I want a full body analysis.”  
  
The computer didn’t respond. “Computer,” Ryeowook yelled, agitated.  
  
“It doesn’t recognize your voice,” Sungmin told them as he walked up to stand beside Ryeowook.  
  
Donghae rubbed his ear. “Yeah, it’s a little higher than usual.”  
  
Ryeowook turned and looked at Yoochun. “Good thing we have the chief engineer with us.”  
  
Yoochun did not acknowledge Ryeowook; he was too busy rubbing the front of his pants with a look of pure horror on his face.  
  
“Yoochun, stop playing with your dickless crotch, and get your ass over here!” Ryeowook bellowed, causing both Sungmin and Donghae to reach for their ears.  
  
Yoochun raised his eyes to meet Ryeowook’s gaze and snapped, “Are you sure this isn’t your natural form? I think it comes naturally for you. Are you sure you don’t want to stay stuck like this?”  
  
“We all might be stuck like this if you don’t hurry and get your ass over here, and get the computer to respond to my commands,” Ryeowook threatened, not amused.  
  
Ryeowook’s statement sparked Commander Yoochun into action, and he quickly walked over and started working on the computer.  
  
“This is a nightmare. Fuck the day I joined this ship,” Shindong cursed as he leaned up against another sickbay bed. Shindong was deep into self pity when his eyes suddenly sparked alive, and reached up to feel his own breasts. “Although I got some big old whoppers here.”  
  
At Shindong’s words Donghae immediately felt of his own breasts. “I have dreamed of breasts for so long….but never my own.”  
  
Sungmin gave Donghae and Shindong a disgusted look; Sungmin had never been attracted to breasts in the slightest. He was trying his best to ignore the two lumps protruding from his upper chest.. although Sungmin thought he wouldn’t mind having his own private mirror right now. He was very curious about how he looked, but decided to continue acting indifferent for now.  
  
Yoochun, who was busy getting the computer to recognize their female voices, complained, “Hey, no fair! Some of us can’t feel ourselves up because we are working. I want to enjoy my breasts, too!”  
  
Shindong stared at Commander Yoochun, baffled. “I thought you were into dudes.”  
  
Yoochun shook his head at the man’s ignorance as he continued to work. “I do not discriminate when it comes to the magnificence of the human race. I find both genders equally attractive, and I don’t play favorites.”  
  
Donghae snorted, and couldn’t resist saying, “Except for Junsu.”  
  
“Who he loves,” Ryeowook, who was standing behind Yoochun, whispered, unknowingly unleashing a storm that would not pass quietly.  
  
Yoochun turned around, not bothering to hide his agitation in the slightest. “Dr. Cho, I know you did not accuse me of having such an outdated, foolish emotion. If I favor anything about Ensign Kim Junsu, it would be that perfect, round ass of his.”  
  
Ryeowook leaned down and whispered in Commander Yoochun’s ear, where only the commander could hear. “You know me and Jae are, like, tight, right?”  
  
Commander Yoochun turned to face Ryeowook, his eyes instantly widening, but before he could say a word the Captain, Jaejoong, and Commander Cho walked into sickbay.  
  
“Lieutenant…I thought you would be down on the planet, trying to fix this,” Sungmin stated, as his face fell even more. He had hoped Changmin was working on the problem.  
  
Changmin walked over to where Yoochun was working on the sickbay computer, while answering Sungmin, “I have no desire to return to the planet until we have some idea what we are dealing with.”  
  
The look of bewilderment on Changmin’s face as he studied Yoochun’s work made Yunho instantly ask, “Yoochun, what are you doing?”  
  
Yoochun moved away from the computer to face the captain. “I was getting the computer to recognize our feminine voices. I’m done now.”  
  
“Why did you not just simply ask one of us to order the computer to recognize your voices?” Changmin questioned, not bothering to hide his annoyance, as he bent down to put the computer that Yoochun had torn apart back together.  
  
“Changmin! We are little stressed here. Forgive us if we aren’t thinking like you…who are still a man! Dammit, why are you still a man?” Ryeowook barked in defense of Yoochun. “Computer, full body scan,” Ryeowook ordered the now working computer. A green light slowly drifted over Lieutenant Donghae’s body as the computer scanned him.  
  
“Maybe it’s because he was the youngest?” Donghae suggested.  
  
Sungmin took this line of thought even farther. “It is a pleasure planet; maybe it purposely left one of us male…and maybe the machine thought he was the dominant male.”  
  
Shindong scrunched up his face, obviously offended. “I would have been the dominate male.”  
  
“In your dreams,” Ryeowook answered as he studied the exam’s readings. “Changmin is taller, smarter, and more muscular.”  
  
“That is a highly intelligent theory,” Changmin replied, not bothering to hide his approval.  
  
Yunho laughed at his son. “Just be glad I beamed up when I did.”  
  
“Thank God, I don’t think I could have tolerated you as a woman. I can just imagine you going on and on…the incessant whining,” Jaejoong retorted aloud, still miffed at Yunho’s refusal to play dress up.  
  
The captain glared, open mouthed at his mate, unable to correlate any kind of speech, verbally or mentally.  
  
Both of Changmin’s eyebrows arched in surprise, and he asked, “Are you saying that you find me to be the alpha male when compared to the captain?”  
  
“No,” Jaejoong sputtered, at a loss, realizing what Changmin must be thinking. “I am saying I am a Joong. If Yunho had been on the planet, then I would have naturally been on the planet as well. Human’s are a nice, promising race, and I adore you all…well, most of you, but I am the most evolved being here.”  
  
“Ah, that makes sense. Joongs are a higher up on the evolutionary scale,” Ryeowook said, nodding his head in understanding. “The machine would have no doubt noticed that, and determined that Jaejoong was the dominate male.” Least now the answer as to why Changmin wasn’t affected was adequately answered, Ryeowook thought.  
  
“Yes,” Jaejoong replied. “Oh, and I just wanted to say, Ryeowook, you make a lovely woman.”  
  
“Thank you,” Ryeowook replied as he ran a scanner over Donghae, who was still lying on the bed.  
  
Jaejoong looked at Sungmin and decided to be gracious. “Lieutenant Lee, you also look very nice.”  
  
“What about the rest of us?” Shindong demanded.  
  
“Well, Commander Yoochun and Lieutenant Donghae are not unattractive, but-”  
  
“Shindong, you are one ugly ass woman,” Commander Cho interrupted, saving Jaejoong from having to say it.  
  
Shindong smiled, very pleased, “Thank God! Who the hell would want to be an attractive woman on this ship of horny men? The rest of the ship isn’t as gay as the men in this room.”  
  
“Very true; this room’s population is considerably homosexual,” Changmin conceded. “Of course, I myself being the exception, where as I like to think of myself as asexual.”  
  
Donghae sat up on the bed. “Hey, I’m not gay!”  
  
“Not yet,” Yoochun teased, winking at Donghae.  
  
“Where the hell did all these bitches come from?” Heechul, who had wandered into sickbay, demanded, with his hands on his hips and his eyes blazing.  
  
*******************  
  
Yunho was considering hiding out in Captain’s Ready Room for the rest of the day. It has been a very long and tiring day. It had started out so nicely for him, too, but everything had changed once the away team had returned to the ship. He knew he had not handled the sudden gender change of his officers as well as he could have. It had been too shocking, but it didn’t set off any of his danger alarms. The away team had said one minute they had been perfectly normal, and the next, they had been zapped by a blue light, and then they had woken up as women – well, except for Changmin.  
  
Heechul had probably been the most dangerous thing about today. Yunho had spent most of it attempting to calm a hysterical Heechul. Heechul had not taken kindly to the fact that there were women on his ship, his madness making him erratically territorial and difficult for even Yunho to control, but in the end Yunho had been able to calm him.  
  
“Heechul, what are we ever going to with you?” Yunho asked himself. Yunho had come very close to having to restrain Heechul earlier, or worse, lock him away with Leeteuk under the constant surveillance of security. The insanity that affected the once brilliant doctor left Yunho feeling heartbroken. Of course, Commander Leeteuk also suffered from the same insanity, but Yunho had not known or loved him like he had Heechul.  
  
A familiar fuzzy feeling in his mind made Yunho frown.  _“Jaejoong! You nosey bastard.”_  
  
_“Such words, I was merely in the process of asking you about dinner. When, by pure happenstance, I noticed you proclaiming your love to another.”_  
  
_“There are a lot of different kinds of love in this world.”  
  
“Yes, I am well aware of that.”_  
  
_“I just sometimes miss the person he was; he was still a mouthy bitch then, but if he had your back…you knew he always would.”  
  
“I have your back now, so snap out of it.”  
  
“I didn’t say you didn’t.”_  
  
_“Let’s go eat. These people are starting to get on my nerves…and I am tempted to put them all to sleep.”  
  
“Jaejoong, are you still in sickbay?”_  
  
_“Yes, and as a being who spent most of my life as a hermaphrodite, I find some of their comments insulting.”_  
  
“Captain,” Changmin called as he walked into the Captain’s Ready Room.  
  
_“Changmin is here; I will get back to you about dinner,”_  Yunho sent to Jaejoong, ending the connection.  
  
“Can I help you?” Yunho asked of Changmin, who was standing in front of his desk.  
  
“I think it would be wise to put limitations on the use of the transporters,” Changmin replied.  
  
Yunho pondered Changmin’s words. “Nobody can beam down to the planet without my permission?”  
  
“Not the planet.”  
  
“Explain.”  
  
“Commander Yoochun and Lieutenant Donghae are abusing the transporters by using them to transport themselves within the ship. Even though we occasionally beam crew members to sickbay, it is not a safe habit we should encourage,” Changmin explained.  
  
“They are the transporter chief and chief engineer,” Yunho pointed out.  
  
“That is true, and if they were working the controls themselves, there would be a very small chance of them materializing inside a bulkhead, but they are not the ones controlling the transportation.”  
  
“You are right, of course,” Yunho told his son, as he hit his insignia. “Transporter room.”  
  
“Yes, Sir,” came the very eager voice of Ensign Kim Jonghyun.  
  
“I don’t want anybody transporting within the ship unless I approve it. Is that understood?”  
  
“Understood, Captain,” the ensign replied.  
  
“Captain, out,” Yunho told the ensign as he stood up and looked at his son. “Any progress on how we are going to switch them back?”  
  
“No, the probes are still gathering information from the planet.”  
  
“Well then, I guess I will eat,” Yunho said, walking away from the desk. “Care to join us?”  
  
“No, the ship is abuzz with annoying gossip-mongering, and I have no desire to hear it. I will continue to work on the problem in the safety of my science labs,” Changmin said, following Yunho out of the room.  
  
  
  
************  
  
  
“I want to learn how to bake a cake,” Jaejoong told Ryeowook.  
  
“Jae, I have enough on my mind without giving you culinary lessons,” Ryeowook, who was at his desk, informed Jaejoong. Ryeowook was busy trying to figure out a way to resequence DNA using the transporters. “So exactly why are you here, and not with Yunho?”  
  
Jaejoong, who was sitting at the conference table in the Ryeowook’s office with his feet propped up on the table, answered, “Yunho, refuses to let me dress him up in pretty clothes, so I am attempting to avoid him.”  
  
Ryeowook just smiled. Donghae, who was standing beside Ryeowook and assisting him, dropped the scanner he had been working with.  
  
Jaejoong rolled his eyes at Donghae’s embarrassment. “His stubbornness aggravates me something fierce, so I have gone exactly four hours and thirty-three minutes without seeing him.”  
  
“So, how is that working out for you?” Ryeowook asked, his smile growing as he looked at the other man.  
  
Jaejoong leaned farther back in his chair. “I don’t like it,” Jaejoong admitted with a big frown. “I thought the five of you could keep me entertained, but alas, here I am waiting eagerly for dinner…so I can see him.”  
  
“When you say dress up…do you mean like Halloween?” Donghae asked curiously as he picked up the tricorder.  
  
Ryeowook turned and swatted the nosey Lieutenant on the arm. “I am pretty sure he doesn’t mean like Halloween.”  
  
“Halloween?” Jaejoong asked, his eyes lighting up as he ransacked Donghae’s mind for everything he knew about Halloween. “We must have a Halloween party! He would have to dress up then!”  
  
“But it isn’t Halloween,” Donghae pointed out. “How do you know about Halloween?”  
  
“Well, I know everything you know about it! I like it! I like Halloween!” Jaejoong said, putting his feet back down on the floor. “We must have a Halloween party!”  
  
“Jaejoong, could you put the party planning on hold? Some us have more pressing issues to deal with,” Ryeowook snapped at Jaejoong. “Like the fact that some of us are currently trapped in female bodies.”  
  
“Plus, it is months away,” Donghae pointed out.  
  
Jaejoong eyes narrowed and he focused on the testy doctor. “Oh, I didn’t realize it was a sacred anniversary for you.”  
  
“Shut up!”  
  
“The Chos’ first kiss,” Jaejoong mocked, pursing his lips and blowing kisses.  
  
Ryeowook glowered at Jaejoong, and Donghae imagined he could see steam rising up from the good doctor’s head. Ryeowook slapped his insignia violently. “Captain, come get your significant other before I purposely poison him!”  
  
The amused voice of the captain answered him, “On my way.”  
  
“Like I wouldn’t see that coming a million miles away; plus, my healing abilities make poison ineffective,” Jaejoong replied, not impressed by Ryeowook’s threat. Jaejoong stood up and smiled at the two of them. “Girls, I must be on my way. My Yunho is on his way to whisk me away.”  
  
“And he can keep you!” Ryeowook shouted at Jaejoong as the man left the room.  
  
“Is everything okay?” Sungmin, who was about to enter Ryeowook’s office, asked, as Jaejoong passed him on his way out.  
  
“Oh, just hormones,” Jaejoong answered him as he hurried toward the exit to sickbay and toward Yunho.  _“Precious Pet, I’m on my way.”_  
  
************  
  
Jaejoong was happily in the mess hall eating macaroni and cheese….his current favorite of all earth food, while his lover sat beside him silently ranting at him.  
  
_“I do not appreciate being called Precious Pet.  I didn’t appreciate it then, and I really don’t appreciate it now. I am the captain of a starship…not some pet! It’s demeaning.”  
  
“It’s affectionate…and so cute.”  
  
“Is not.”  
  
“Is too.”  
  
“I want you to stop.”  
  
“Well I want a lot of things.”  
  
“If I dress up in that prehistoric uniform, will you stop calling me Precious Pet?”  
  
“Nope.”_  
  
“It’s the damn Guardian’s fault,” Yunho grumbled aloud, stuffing his mouth full of kimchi.  
  
“Cheer up,” Jaejoong told him as one hand slipped up Yunho’s thigh.  
  
_“Don’t even start. I have to relieve Kyuhyun from the bridge when I am done eating.”_  
  
Jaejoong frowned as he pulled his hand away.  _“You do?”_  
  
“Most of my senior officers are in the middle of an identity crisis right now, and Lieutenant Yesung’s tour does not start till 2200,” Yunho reminded his lover.  
  
“Captain, I would happily watch the bridge for you,” Junsu offered, suddenly appearing at the table and sitting across from the captain.  
  
Eunhyuk, who sat down beside Junsu, warned the captain, “Don’t listen to him, Captain…he’s a total dictator.”  
  
“You lie!” Junsu proclaimed, looking hurt. “I was just making sure you were doing your work right.”  
  
Yunho smiled at the two of them. “I will be taking the bridge ‘til the night tour begins, sorry.”  
  
“That would be for the best,” Eunhyuk quickly agreed, and then couldn’t resist from asking. “So what do they look like?”  
  
Yunho shook his head at Eunhyuk, and told him, “They look like women.”  
  
“I’ve never been so glad not to go on an away mission in my life,” Eunhyuk confided.  
  
“Says the one that was complaining about not getting to go,” Junsu pointed out.  
  
“You were, too!” Eunhyuk reminded him.  
  
“True…so, do they look pretty?” Junsu asked the question that everybody wanted to know.  
  
Yunho hesitated before answering, not sure if it was proper to comment on his officers looks. Jaejoong felt no need for hesitation and eagerly answered, “Sungmin is by far the best-looking, but Ryeowook is also very pretty. Yoochun and Donghae aren’t exactly pretty, but they are both attractive. Shindong…well, Shindong is Shindong.”  
  
“I think Yoochun and Donghae are pretty,” Yunho professed, unable to stop himself.  
  
Jaejoong turned to look at his mate, not happily. “You do, do you?”  
  
“Yeah, I have had worse,” Yunho acknowledged before thinking, and quickly added, “Not lately, though…lately, I’ve just known perfection.”  
  
“True,” Jaejoong conceded, happy to be referred to as perfection in front of others. “I guess my standards when it comes to beauty are higher than most.”  
  
“Well, compared to your own beauty, everybody else would fail in comparison,” Yunho said, laying it on extra thick.  
  
“True,” Jaejoong said with a huge smile, clapping his hands, loving the praise.  
  
_“So, does this mean no more Precious Pet?”_  
  
Jaejoong’s face fell. _“Bastard.”_  
  
“So, they still look like themselves…they are just women now,” Junsu asked, unable to get the thought of the five crewmen out of his mind. Nobody but a very select few had seen the five. Sickbay was completely off- limits unless you were dying.  
  
“I bet Sungmin is pretty; he was pretty as a man,” Eunhyuk mused with a dreamy look on his face.  
  
Junsu elbowed Eunhyuk. “He’s still Sungmin.”  
  
“I was just thinking!” Eunhyuk said defensively.  
  
A quiet suddenly came over the mess hall, and everybody turned their heads towards the entrance, where Commander Yoochun stood. Commander Yoochun’s eyes quickly found the table where Yunho was sitting, and he stormed over.  
  
“So you took away my transporting privileges!” Commander Yoochun hissed at Yunho, as he sat down beside a very shocked Ensign Junsu.  
  
Yunho didn’t even flinch. “For your own safety.”  
  
“This is Changmin’s doing,” Yoochun griped, knowing instinctively who was behind it.  
  
“And he was right,” Yunho persisted. “It wasn’t safe.”  
  
“I know,” Yoochun said, rubbing his forehead. “I know, and I’m not normally so cowardly.”  
  
“Cowardly?” Junsu questioned as he gawked at the female version of Commander Yoochun. Yoochun was still wearing his uniform, but now he had a light gold jacket over it.  
  
Yoochun turned for the first time to look at the young man sitting beside him, who was openly staring at him. “Yes, cowardly; so what if I have breasts now? And I’m minus a very dearly and deeply loved part of my anatomy. I’m still me in here, and I refuse to hide away like some little girl.”  
  
Yunho felt a surge of pride for his old friend. “Now that’s the Yoochun I know and love. I am sure this is just temporary. You and Changmin will have it figured out in no time, and if you don’t, Ryeowook will just have to figure out a way to change you back.”  
  
“Right,” Yoochun agreed, looking away from Junsu and toward the captain. “I have a feeling we are going to need to go back down to the planet, though.”  
  
Yunho nodded his head. “If we do, we will. I know it has to uncomfortable for you, but we need to make sure it’s safe first.”  
  
“Agreed,” Yoochun replied, and turned back to face Junsu, who couldn’t take his eyes off the female version of Yoochun. “Junsu, you really do like girls, don’t you?”  
  
“No…I mean, yes!” Junsu yelped, looking away from Yoochun quickly, embarrassed at being caught staring.  
  
Yoochun smiled at Junsu in a way that could only be described as predatory. “Junsu, why don’t you be a dear, and go get me something to eat.”  
  
“Wh...what do you want?”  
  
Yoochun continued smiling, and made a point to lick his lips before answering, “I’m in the mood for sausage…a big, long sausage sounds really good right now.”  
  
Junsu swallowed nervously, not missing the innuendo.  
  
_“Yunho, I can’t believe you call this man friend. I think I’m going to be sick.”  
  
“Just make sure you aim for him.”  
  
“He’s a pig.”  
  
“I am thinking Junsu is going to suddenly find himself assigned to the night tour.”  
  
“Smart move…he has a good heart, but he also has hormones working against him.”  
  
“Yeah, I don’t think Yoochun would have any problem seducing him in his current form,”_  Yunho sent back to Jaejoong, while he shook his head in disbelief. “Junsu, go get him some chicken and dumplings,” Yunho said aloud. “That’s his mother’s recipe that he programmed into the food replicators. I just love Mrs. Park. I wonder how she is doing. I hope she isn’t missing you too much.”  
  
_“He has a mother? I thought he was hatched?”_  Jaejoong sniped telepathically.  
  
“Okay,” Junsu eagerly agreed, swatting a laughing Eunhyuk on the shoulder as he got up.  
  
“So not cool! You did not just bring my mother into the conversation,” Yoochun objected to Yunho.  
  
“I happen to like your mother a lot.”  
  
“Well, I like her, too, but that isn’t why you brought her up!” Yoochun snapped. “I don’t know who is worse - you, or your mate!”  
  
“Me?” Jaejoong responded, shocked. “What did I do?” Jaejoong knew there was no way Yoochun could have known what he was thinking.  
  
Yoochun pointed his finger at Jaejoong accusingly. “Yes, you…you…Mr. Mind Reader! You were the one filling Ryeowook’s head with silly notions about me! My psyche is none of his business - or anybody’s, for that matter.”  
  
“Jaejoong,” Yunho chastised.  
  
“I am innocent this time! I didn’t tell Ryeowook anything about you. I avoid your mind…because, frankly, I find it offensive,” Jaejoong informed Yoochun. “Although I must admit that Ryeowook is very observant when it comes to human nature.”  
  
“Apparently not, because he didn’t get it right at all,” Yoochun responded, glaring back at Jaejoong.  
  
Jaejoong leaned back in his chair and continued to smile at Yoochun. “Fine, it’s not like a man could be in so much denial, he wouldn’t even know his own heart.”  
  
“Exactly,” Yoochun insisted, not backing down.  
  
Yunho and Eunhyuk shared a look with each other, wondering what exactly was going on. Yunho was about to interrupt, when Junsu appeared, putting the plate of dumplings down in front of Yoochun.  
  
“Thank you, Junsu,” Yoochun thanked Junsu, while attempting to control his temper.  
  
Yunho looked sympathetically at his friend. He knew Yoochun well, and in his own strange way, Yoochun was worse than Changmin when it came to expressing his emotions. “Yoochun, I can’t even imagine what you and the others are going through, but we will get you back to old form. I promise.”  
  
**********  
  
Ryeowook walked into the bedroom, trying his best not to make any noise, but still, his quietest movements had the man in the bed jerking awake.  
  
“It’s just me, Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook softly said to calm the other man. “Lights,” Ryeowook ordered and the darkness was erased by the light. “See, it’s just me.”  
  
Kyuhyun, who was sitting up, still partially covered up, blinked his sleepy eyes, trying to make sense of the sudden intrusion. “What’s wrong?”  
  
“What’s wrong? Really?” Ryeowook sputtered back, trying to act offended, but instead, only sounding completely exhausted. “Well, I am trapped in the body of a woman, for one thing.”  
  
“I noticed.”  
  
Ryeowook plopped down on the side of the bed. “Do you ever think you’re cursed?”  
  
“I used to,” Kyuhyun replied honestly, causing Ryeowook to jerk around and to look at him guiltily.  Before the other man could apologize to him, Kyuhyun asked him, “Did you forget it’s my turn to have these quarters?"  
  
Ryeowook shook his head. “No, I didn’t.  I just had to get out of sickbay.”  
  
“So you came here?”  
  
“I just need a couple hours of sleep, and then I will get back to work on trying to fix this,” Ryeowook admitted, looking away from Kyuhyun.  
  
Kyuhyun smiled at him. “These quarters are on the same level as sickbay.”  
  
“Yeah, the captain has forbidden in-ship transportations,” Ryeowook explained, “Donghae will not stop complaining about it, though. Shindong never stops with the griping. Sungmin won’t stop pacing the floors. I swear, if I didn’t get out of there, I was going to start sedating people…for my own good.”  
  
“I think a couple hours of sleep would be a good idea,” Kyuhyun replied, trying to hide his amusement. “Since you woke me up, does that mean you want me to take the sofa?”  
  
Ryeowook just shook his head.  
  
“Are you going to take the sofa?” Kyuhyun continued to question when Ryeowook didn’t move.  
  
Ryeowook continued to shake his head.  
  
“You want to sleep with me?” Kyuhyun asked, completely confused. There were 220 days left on his sentence, and Ryeowook had showed no signs of relenting.  
  
Ryeowook cleared his throat and said bashfully, “Well, I was remembering the first words you ever said to me.”  
  
Kyuhyun cringed at the mention of their first meeting. “I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it couldn’t have been nice.”  
  
“You told me and I quote, “I’m sorry, but I don’t fuck women, so don’t get your hopes up,” Ryeowook reminded him as he turned to face the other man.  
  
Kyuhyun couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him as he remembered back on the horrendous scene that was their first meeting. “Well, you weren’t exactly masculine, and you did just walk in without knocking.”  
  
“It was my room, too, and I had to unpack. How was I supposed to know I had some sex addict as a roommate, who was doing things that my pure, innocent soul had never dreamed of doing with…what was his name.”  
  
“I have no idea.”  
  
Ryeowook let out a sigh. “I guess it would require a memory of Changmin’s levels to remember all your past exploits.”  
  
“So, since you are in the body of a woman…you feel safe with me?” Kyuhyun asked, changing the subject fast. He did not want to get into a talk with Ryeowook about his past sexual partners.  
  
“Yes,” Ryeowook conceded.  
  
Kyuhyun pulled back the covers and motioned for Ryeowook to get under them with him. “Getting changed into a woman in order to avoid my sexual advances….that is a little extreme, even for you.”  
  
“Better safe than sorry,” Ryeowook teased as he climbed under the covers with Kyuhyun.  
  
Ryeowook was barely under the covers when Kyuhyun pulled him toward him. Ryeowook didn’t pull away as Kyuhyun held him tightly as they both lay on their sides, chest to back. “Did I ever apologize for my horrible behavior at the Academy?”  
  
“Only a billion times,” Ryeowook said, allowing his eyes to close.  
  
“Lights off,” Kyuhyun ordered to the computer and the room went dark. “I was just so angry at my mother.”  
  
“Well, I wasn’t too happy with her. I had always imagined her to be my great beneficiary…my own fairy godmother. I will never forget when she visited the colony and promised me she would get me into Star Fleet. I had worshipped the woman for years, and then she puts me in a room with her twisted, depraved, hateful, slimy, arrogant-”  
  
“Enough with the adjectives, I get the picture.”  
  
“Asshole son,” Ryeowook finished as he found himself snuggling into Kyuhyun’s arms, enjoying the warmth of the other man.  
  
Kyuhyun breathed in the scent of Ryeowook. “What a heartless woman.”  
  
Ryeowook, who felt sleep pulling him under, reached for Kyuhyun’s hand and clasped it tightly. “She was just trying to fix you.”  
  
Kyuhyun squeezed Ryeowook closer to his body and whispered, “She could never fix me, but she was smart enough to know that you could.”


	2. Chapter 2

“I can’t thank you enough,” Sungmin told Siwon as he paused from his workout with the other man to grab some water.  
  
“There is no need to thank me. I’m always happy to assist you, Lieutenant.”  
  
“Let’s take a break,” Sungmin said, running his hand through his wet, sweaty hair as he sat down on the floor. “It’s just so strange being like this, but if I’m going to be stuck like this for any amount of time…I need to make sure I can still defend myself.”  
  
Siwon sat down beside the security chief, careful to keep a short distance between them. Siwon slightly grimaced as he rubbed his shoulder. “You are more than capable of defending yourself, I assure you.”  
  
“Sorry about that,” Sungmin said, wincing in sympathy as he reached over and touched the other man’s shoulder. “I threw you really hard.”  
  
“You were not as weak as you believed yourself to be. Your female form is still a force to be reckoned with.”  
  
Sungmin pulled his arm away. “Yes, it appears so…I just needed to test myself, and I didn’t want to do it with just anybody.”  
  
“As you know I’m always here to serve you, Lieutenant. I am eager to provide you with any assistance you might need,” Siwon told Sungmin, not taking his eyes off of him.  
  
“This isn’t about you feeling responsible for me…is it? You know I disapprove of that outdated notion of yours. You saved my life; you aren’t responsible for it.”  
  
Siwon just smiled back, not saying a word.  
  
“I didn’t choose you for that reason. This is about you being a perfect gentleman, and I knew you wouldn’t give me any grief about suddenly being a woman,” Sungmin quickly explained.  
  
Siwon forced himself to look away from the beautiful woman that was his boss…who was really a man. “I am glad you can trust me.”  
  
“Well, I feel like I can.”  
  
“You can.”  
  
“I’m glad,” Sungmin told the handsome prince, who was staring at the wall opposite of them. “Is it strange for you to look at me?”  
  
Siwon looked back at Sungmin and confessed, “I am a man, and you are suddenly a very beautiful, attractive woman. As much as Heechul would like to believe otherwise, I am firmly heterosexual.”  
  
Sungmin darted his eyes away from Siwon, suddenly feeling the sexual tension.  
  
“I know logically that you are still a man, and my boss…but sometimes the body doesn’t respond to logic,” Siwon continued to explain.  
  
“Oh, I am sorry…I just…didn’t realize,” Sungmin responded, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.  
  
Siwon reached out took Sungmin’s hand, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “There isn’t any need for you to be sorry. You haven’t done anything wrong. My reaction is only natural; it isn’t anything either of us should apologize for.”  
  
Now Sungmin blushed. “But I had you working out with me all morning…there was so much touching…and sweat. I thought you were a little off your game, but I thought you were just going easy on me due to my new female status. I am not usually so dense.”  
  
“You embarrassment is touching, but completely unnecessary.”  
  
Sungmin rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand and asked, “So completely heterosexual…Heechul won’t be happy?”  
  
“Aww, but Heechul sees himself as a woman, so he won’t see any problem in my being heterosexual,” Siwon said with a chuckle.  
  
Sungmin smiled bittersweetly at the handsome man. “My heart always breaks for Heechul. He was so brilliant. He was so young and already the Chief Medical Officer on a star ship.”  
  
Siwon’s eyes softened as he looked at Sungmin. “Sometimes it’s so easy for me to forget the tragedy you all suffered…the ship functions so efficiently that sometimes I forget the great burden of loss it carries.”  
  
“We didn’t have time to mourn at first; we had to act fast, or we all would have been lost. Only afterwards did we have time to look upon the tragedy that we were left with…so many dead. In the instant that the black hole sucked us in…so much was lost,” Sungmin explained, feeling his eyes fill with tears as he recalled those most horrific of days.  
  
Siwon scooted closer to Sungmin, letting go of his hand. Siwon then wrapped a comforting arm around Sungmin and gave him gentle hug.  
  
Sungmin swallowed back his sorrow and continued, not moving away. “We lost so much. I think we were at risk of losing everything, but the then the captain stepped up. I don’t know what Yunho is made of, but I do know he saved us all. He pushed us, trusted us, and loved us…until we were strong again.”  
  
“I think you give him too much credit.”  
  
Sungmin looked at Siwon, alarmed at his words. “No, I don’t. I will always be grateful, and completely loyal to Yunho.”  
  
“I am not discrediting anything that the captain did. I just think it was more than the act of one man. He couldn’t have done it without people like you…supporting him,” Siwon explained, moving his arm away from Sungmin’s shoulder, and reaching down and taking his hand again.  
  
“I think you underestimate him. He has a way of getting the most difficult and unusual people to work together and to excel at it.”  
  
Siwon nodded his head, not letting go of Sungmin’s hand. “Perhaps, you are correct. Mostly the captain I have been witness to has been shrouded by the glow of romantic love.”  
  
“Ah, you have only seen the captain happily in love, and not spurred into action as the whole ship is in peril.”  
  
“And I’m perfectly fine with that…but I am envious of his love.”  
  
Sungmin found he was unreasonably pleased, as he gave the prince a perplexed look. “You are. Jae is technically a male.”  
  
“No, not because of Jae, but of the love they share,” Siwon quickly explained, shaking his head quickly to deny an amorous feelings for the Joong.  
  
“Siwon, you were on your way to get married,” Sungmin suddenly realized, squeezing Siwon’s hand in sympathy.  
  
“I was, but I was not marrying for love.”  
  
“You weren’t?”  
  
“No, I was marrying for peace. For the continuing peace of two worlds.”  
  
Sungmin frowned. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“Is peace not a noble enough reason to marry?”  
  
“You don’t think one should marry for love?”  
  
“Oh, I think love is a wonderful reason to marry, but it was not an option open to me,” Siwon conceded.  
  
“Was there somebody else…somebody you would have rather married?” Sungmin asked, immediately curious.  
  
“As a prince, I was never lacking for company.”  
  
Sungmin laughed at Siwon’s honesty. “I don’t think you would have ever lacked for company, no matter what you were…you are the very definition of drop dead gorgeous.”  
  
“As you are in any form, male or female,” Siwon pointed out, still aware of the hand in his as he stared back at Sungmin.  
  
Sungmin swallowed as he looked nervously back at the attractive man, who did not bother to hide the desire in his eyes now. “I should be going…the crew is starting to wake up now. I don’t want to cause a scene.”  
  
Siwon released Sungmin’s hand and smiled at him knowingly. “If that is your wish.”  
  
Sungmin quickly got up. “Yeah, I think that would be smart. They can’t help themselves from looking, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it…so I am going to go.”  
  
“As you wish,” Siwon said as he stood up and watched Sungmin nervously pull on his shirt’s neckline. “Remember, I am always at your disposal.”  
  
Sungmin cursed himself for the heat he felt spreading across his body and the sudden urge to throw himself at the man. “I am going to go now…thanks for the workout,” Sungmin sputtered and quickly left the room.  
  
*****************  
  
The next morning Changmin paused before entering the Ship’s Galley, debating if it was a wise idea, but the smell that came wafting out of the room ended any such hesitation. Changmin walked through the doors to find his father sitting at the table sipping on a cup of coffee as he looked over the ship’s report logs. Jaejoong was in the galley’s massive kitchen, cooking.  
  
Yunho looked up and smiled at his son who had just entered the room, “Good morning, Changmin.”  
  
“One can hope,” Changmin replied, finding that feeling of hesitation creeping up on him again. “Is there a reason the morning briefing has been postponed ‘til 0900?”  
  
Yunho looked up from his reports to eye Jaejoong in the kitchen. “Jaejoong woke up me up at 3am to inform me that if I weren’t a horrible, terrible person, then I would allow the Chos to sleep in.”  
  
“This would explain why Kyuhyun missed our early morning chess game.”  
  
“At 3am I will agree to almost anything as long as I can go back to bed.”  
  
“So, have they resumed their sexual activities?” Changmin asked.  
  
“No,” Jaejoong answered from behind the stove.  
  
“Then, why did we postpone the briefing?” Yunho asked, perplexed.  
  
Jaejoong shook his head as he walked to the table with a pot of coffee and grabbed Yunho’s coffee cup and refilled it. “I shouldn’t be telling you two this…but they just needed to hold each other.”  
  
“No, you should not be telling us this…you shouldn’t know this,” Yunho agreed as he picked up his fresh cup of coffee.  
  
“Ryeowook is my friend, so if I get woken up by his intense feelings…then it isn’t my fault,” Jaejoong explained.  
  
“You are not any better than Yoochun,” Yunho pointed out, remembering his old friend watching them while he had been invisible. “It’s a huge violation of privacy.”  
  
“Yunho!”  
  
“Jaejoong, don’t give me the innocent act. I know you can shut people out if you want to…you eavesdropped on them. Or you wouldn’t know they didn’t have sex, and that they just needed to hold each other,” Yunho firmly told him.  
  
Jaejoong walked back to the stove. “You think you know everything.”  
  
“I know you,” Yunho reminded him. “For countless lifetimes it seems.”  
  
“Well, you don’t know this. I listen in on Kyuhyun at times,” Jaejoong told Yunho smugly.  
  
“Why? Are you spying for Ryeowook?” Yunho questioned.  
  
Jaejoong picked up a red, round piece of fruit that resembled a plum, and threw it at Yunho. “I will have you know! That your commander is plagued by horrible nightmares…and I shouldn’t have told you that, but, you see, I can stop them for him. Just a little nudge with my mind and they go away.”  
  
Changmin, who was aware of Kyuhyun’s nightmares, turned to Jaejoong and looked at him in a new light. “That is extremely kind of you, but extremely inappropriate.”  
  
“But we aren’t going to tell anybody,” Yunho added, smiling at his son.  
  
“No, we won’t,” Changmin concurred.  
  
Yunho patted the seat beside him, motioning for Changmin to take the seat. “Jae’s making breakfast; why don’t you join us?”  
  
Jaejoong agreed, “Yes, please do. There is plenty.”  
  
“If you insist,” Changmin answered as he sat down beside Yunho. “Can I ask why you are cooking?”  
  
Yunho explained for Jaejoong, “When the Guardian took us on the past lives trip, in one of Jae’s lives-”  
  
“In one of our lives,” Jaejoong interrupted, correcting his lover.  
  
“In one of our lives, Jae was cooking something…he doesn’t even know what it was, but it awakened some latent desire to cook,” Yunho explained. “Then Ryeowook encouraged him by giving him cooking lessons.”  
  
Jaejoong, who was happily stirring, said proudly, “And someday I will be a better cook than Ryeowook.”  
  
“Ryeowook is a very accomplished cook, although he has not been cooking much since he returned from his year long stay on the planet, or perhaps he has just not informed me,” Changmin said, irritated. He was well aware that Ryeowook had hosted a dinner weeks ago and did not invite him.  
  
“Because you would eat everything,” Yunho said, amused.  
  
“Not everything,” Changmin insisted.  
  
Yunho looked back down at his reports, and mumbled, “Yoochun put four people on report last night?”  
  
“For what reasons?” Changmin asked, leaning over to look at the report. “Commander Yoochun was not restricting himself to sickbay…one would hope it had nothing to due with his newly feminine form.”  
  
“You think they attacked him?” Jaejoong asked, shocked, as he looked over the counter at his son and mate. “You should just throw their sorry asses out into open space. I can’t deal with rapists. When I shift, I’m not putting up with that shit from your crew. I have never been raped, and I would like to keep it that way.”  
  
Yunho and Changmin had matching stunned looks on their faces as they listened to Jaejoong’s rant.  
  
“For centuries Joongs have been kidnapped, tortured, and raped in hopes that we would be so miserable that we would do anything to escape the agony. These monsters believed that we would bond with our tormenters and save ourselves from the torture,” Jaejoong continued in a voice full of venom. “I was able to resist, but others were not so lucky."  
  
Yunho recovered first.  “There isn’t any rapist on this ship. Such behavior is not condoned in Star Fleet or the Federation. Yoochun put them on report for gross negligence.”  
  
“Because the EPS conduits system check failed to meet his extremely high standards by only 2%,” Changmin added a he read the report. “It appears that Commander Yoochun ordered multiple tests late last night in engineering.”  
  
“See, no rape,” Yunho told Jaejoong, who was looking slightly embarrassed by his outbursts.  
  
Jaejoong looked down at the food he was cooking. “Good.”  
  
“I’m curious,” Changmin told Jaejoong. “If all Joongs are as highly telepathic as you are…how does one get kidnapped?”  
  
Before answering Changmin, Jaejoong looked accusingly at Yunho and moved toward the table, placing three plates and silverware on it. “Maybe they are in the company of others, who judge them for using their telepathic abilities. For instance, my latest outbursts would not have occurred if I had been reading your minds. I would have known what happened in engineering.”  
  
“Oh, whatever,” Yunho snorted in disbelief as Jaejoong walked back in the kitchen. “You didn’t read my mind, because I can tell when you do it, and you want me to eat breakfast without an attitude.” Yunho turned to look at Changmin. “And for some reason, you respect Changmin’s privacy and don’t read his mind.”  
  
“Which I am very grateful for, and I wish for this respect of my privacy to continue,” Changmin quickly added.  
  
“But if somebody else had been here…you would have read them so fast,” Yunho continued.  
  
Jaejoong walked over and placed a bowl of food on the table. “You think you know me so well.”  
  
“I do know you so well,” Yunho told him as Jaejoong served them.  
  
“Fruit…and is that eggs?” Changmin asked as he eyed the food that Jaejoong had placed on his plate. Before Jaejoong could answer him, Changmin stuffed his mouth full of the food.  
  
“Yes, and they are what you call scrambled eggs, but I added some extra ingredients to them,” Jaejoong answered as he returned to the kitchen. “They were made from the eggs we had in stasis from Trysor. There is also toast.”  
  
“They are very eatable, but I have another question,” Changmin said as he put more eggs in his mouth.  
  
Jaejoong placed a stack of buttered toast on the middle of the table and sat down beside Yunho. “Go ahead.”  
  
“If a Joong did allow themselves to get kidnapped…why would you allow yourself to stay kidnapped? Could you not just manipulate the kidnapper’s mind or incapacitate them?”  
  
“Their telepathy doesn’t work on all species the same…for instance the Zusaders,” Yunho reminded Changmin.  
  
“True, but there are also devices in this galaxy that limit a Joong’s telepathic ability, and horrible people like the Warlord ZhouMi have such devices at their disposal,” Jaejoong explained. ‘That’s how he held me for so long.”  
  
Changmin pondered Jaejoong’s words as he grabbed four slices of toast. “Such a device would be very difficult to create. When we encountered the Warlord’s ship…it didn’t seem that technologically advanced…how were they able to devise such a device?”  
  
“They didn’t. There are only a few of those devices left in existence. They are thousands of years old, and many believe them to be of Joong origin.”  
  
“Why would the Joongs create such a device that would limit them?” Yunho asked, surprised.  
  
“The Joong race is peaceful now, but in the past there have been Joongs who needed controlling. There is nothing a Joong wouldn’t do to protect its mate, and our history has showed that sometimes that desperation has led to terrifying consequences.”  
  
“So, your world is technologically advanced?” Changmin asked.  
  
Jaejoong looked at Changmin and answered honestly, “There was once a great race in this galaxy that was highly technologically advanced, but they also had great powers of the mind. They were the beings that created the Guardians billions of years ago. It has been widely believed for millions of years that most of those beings evolved onto a higher plane of existence, but it is also believed that some of them devolved themselves into the Joong.”  
  
Changmin’s eyes widened. “And this is why the Guardians obey the Joong.”  
  
“They do not obey us, but they do allow us to travel through them, and they will communicate with us,” Jaejoong explained.  
  
“So your people are technologically advanced?” Changmin questioned again.  
  
Jaejoong shook his head. “No, not at all. The planet is very primitive by your standards. Technology is not embraced on the Joong home world.”  
  
“No wonder you get along with Ryeowook so easily,” Yunho couldn’t help but add.  
  
Changmin tried not to sneer in dislike. How any race could forgo technology and the scientific advances it brought was something he would never understand. “So, no Joong has any interest in science?”  
  
“I didn’t say that,” Jaejoong quickly answered. “If they do have such a desire, they do it off of the planet. There is a Guardian on the planet, and if it approves of the request, a Joong can travel anywhere it likes. There are many rogue Joongs who give up the home world in search of something else.”  
  
“Could rogue Joongs have created the machine down on the planet that turned the away team into females?” Yunho asked.  
  
“That is a highly probable conclusion. Joongs are apparently very intelligent, considering how quickly you adapted to this ship.” Changmin said pointing to Jaejoong.  
  
“I bonded with your father, so that explains my easy adaption,” Jaejoong reminded Changmin.  
  
Changmin shook his head, dismissing Jaejoong’s reasons. “Also in class, even though you were resistant to the idea of being in class, you grasped concepts very quickly. I also assume there are Joongs more intelligent than you are.”  
  
“Yes, there are smarter Joongs.”  
  
“And if the Guardian allows Joongs to travel in time, a very intelligent Joong could travel to a place and time of great technological advancement. A Joong with their powers of telepathy could quickly understand the science involved, and bring that knowledge to this time and age,” Changmin explained, unable to hide his excitement at the mere possibility.  
  
Yunho narrowed his eyes at Changmin. “You are never allowed near a Guardian.”  
  
Changmin rolled his eyes at his father. “I am not a Joong, so unfortunately it would have no use for me. I can’t help but imagine the limitless scientific discoveries I could make.”  
  
“It would be cheating,” Yunho told Changmin, loving to tease his son. Jaejoong found himself watching them. It felt so right, being with the two of them, but Changmin was so smart, and Yunho’s abilities grew everyday. How long before the mental handicaps he had placed in their minds crumbled, and they realized the truth?  
  
Changmin gave Yunho an offended look. “Science is an ongoing process that is the combination of many collective works from many great scientists…it would not be cheating.”  
  
“The time traveling is what makes it cheating,” Yunho insisted. “But there is a more important question here. Why would a race of hermaphrodites create the machine down on the planet? They get the best of both words; it isn’t like they would need it.”  
  
“Maybe a Joong just wanted to be one gender,” Changmin suggested, focusing on Jaejoong. “You are male now …because Yunho preferred you that way. Do Joongs normally stay hermaphrodites?”  
  
“I still don’t think I preferred him that-”  
  
“Absolutely not,” Jaejoong answered Changmin, interrupting Yunho’s denial. “Unbonded Joongs are hermaphrodites, and Joongs that are…” Jaejoong trailed off, realizing who he was talking to. Jaejoong opened his mind, reaching out, carefully avoiding both Yunho and Changmin’s minds, as he searched for an interruption.  
  
“Shifting?” Yunho finished.  
  
Jaejoong swallowed, trying to hide his nerves. “Yes, there are times in a Joong’s life when they revert back to their hermaphrodite form, but other than that time, bonded Joongs can take on the male or female form, depending on the preferences of their mate.”  
  
“What is the purpose of shifting?” Changmin asked.  
  
Jaejoong ducked under the table to avoid Changmin’s intelligent gaze and pretended to scratch his leg. “It’s just what Joongs do.”  
  
“Just what Joongs do,” Yunho repeated, immediately suspicious.  
  
“Yes,” Jaejoong said, sitting back up in his chair. “So how did you like breakfast, Changmin?”  
  
“It tastes much better than synthesized food,” Changmin admitted.  
  
The door to the galley opened and Heechul and Yoochun strolled in. Yoochun barked, “So, you are eating without me.”  
  
Heechul smiled and sat down beside Changmin, batting his eyelashes. “Oh, look, it’s like a cozy family gathering.”  
  
Jaejoong laughed nervously; Heechul made him nervous. The man’s thoughts were erratic and difficult to track…and the brilliance underneath that demented mind was very formidable.  
  
“Do you mind?” Yoochun asked as he sat down next to Heechul and grabbed the bowl of scrambled eggs.  
  
“No,” both Yunho and Jaejoong answered. They had finished their breakfast already.  
  
“Yes,” Changmin answered, giving Yoochun the stink eye.  
  
Yoochun reached across the table and grabbed the fork that Yunho had been using. “You already ate, you selfish pig.”  
  
Heechul grabbed a piece of toast and smiled at the faces that Yoochun and Changmin were making at each other. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  
  
“Is it?” Jaejoong asked.  
  
Heechul nodded his head. “It is. I know, because I’m as brilliant as I am beautiful.”  
  
“Why are you two together? Did you make up? Are you friends again?” Yunho blurted out, pointing at Yoochun and Heechul. The last time he had seen them together, he had to separate them, because Heechul had gone…well, Heechul had gone more insane then usual. Heechul saw himself as the princess of the ship, and he was not happy about the five newly female crew members.  
  
“I’ve decided it’s best to keep my eye on this one,” Heechul enlightened them, while giving Yoochun a suspicious look.  
  
Yoochun swallowed his mouthful of food and told them all, “Like I’ve had time to enjoy this body; those imbeciles I have working in engineering thought they could slack off yesterday, just because I suddenly have boobs.”  
  
“I saw where you put four people on report…gross negligence. Do you think you were being a little harsh? It was only 2%,” Yunho inquired of his chief engineer.  
  
“No, I don’t think I was being harsh. It isn’t like we can pull up to a star base and get a new warp core. We have to take perfect care of this one. Even after a year, I still have to constantly ride them. Commander Ivy was a sorry excuse for a chief engineer, and I have to rid them of all her bad habits,” Yoochun stated matter of factually.  
  
“Yoochun…” Yunho warned.  
  
“Hey, I know you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but it’s the honest truth,” Yoochun informed them. “I really have no clue how she got the job.”  
  
“You hold everybody to your high standards, therefore you think 91.3% of all engineers are sorry,” Changmin pointed out to him.  
  
“True,” Yoochun conceded.  
  
Yunho smiled back at him. “I really don’t mind having a perfectionist as my chief engineer; actually, I feel really blessed.”  
  
“Don’t flirt with me just because I’m a woman now,” Yoochun told Yunho. “It’s mean to tease me, because I don’t think your boyfriend is the sharing type.”  
  
“I’m not,” Jaejoong quickly informed him.  
  
Yunho just shook his head in exasperation, “I am not flirting with you.”  
  
Yoochun winked at Yunho. “Such a shame, since you have hidden Ensign Junsu away from me,” Yoochun told Yunho, then turned to face Heechul. “Dear friend, don’t you think that’s cruel of him to stick poor Junsu on the night tour?”  
  
“I wish you would remember that we are not friends while you inhabit that slutty body,” Heechul proclaimed, with a mouth full of toast.  
  
“Excuse me, I am not slutty!” Yoochun denied, but when the whole table started laughing, he quickly added, “Well, not in this body, I’m not!”  
  
Heechul scrutinized him closely. “Not yet, you mean.”  
  
“Well, it isn’t like I have any intention of keeping my hymen intact, especially if I’m stuck in this form. But I’m not just going to let anybody pop it,” Yoochun informed Heechul.  
  
Yunho covered his face with his hands.  
  
_“For his sake, I hope his first time having vaginal sex is better than mine,”_ Jaejoong sent mentally to Yunho.  
  
Yunho’s hands dropped from his face as it turned bright red.  _“That was your fault!”_  
  
_“My fault?”  
  
“Yes, you had me drowning in pheromones…there wasn’t any foreplay! I have had sex with plenty of women, and none of them have ever complained!”_  
  
Jaejoong’s eyes narrowed.  _“Really? Plenty of women, huh?”  
  
“Before I knew you.”  
  
“You always knew my soul! We have a timeless love!”  
  
“I…I…I didn’t know, that I knew it!”  
  
“Excuses!”_  
  
_“It isn’t an excuse, it’s the truth-”_ Yunho stopped his mental argument with Jaejoong when Changmin elbowed him. Yunho’s awareness of his surroundings returned, and he immediately noticed that Heechul was standing up, hovering over Yoochun with a fork in his hand.  
  
“Listen here, bitch! If you go near my prince! I will scratch your eyes out!” Heechul vowed to Yoochun with fire in his eyes.  
  
Yoochun looked up at Heechul dismissively, and informed him, “I have as much interest in Siwon, as he does in you……as in, none! No interest at all!”  
  
Yunho lunged from his chair, jumping around Changmin to grab Heechul by his arms before he could stab Yoochun’s eyes out. “Heechul,” Yunho reprimanded. “It’s time for us to take a walk.” Heechul glared back at Yoochun, too angry for words, as Yunho dragged him away from the table. “Heechul and I are going to go for walk. I will see the rest of you at the briefing.”  
  
_“Should I go with you?”  
  
“No, I have a better chance of calming him down on my own.”  
  
“Where are you taking him?”  
  
“I am going to have to put him with Leeteuk…’til he calms down.”_  
  
Changmin watched as Yunho took Heechul out of the room with sorrow in his eyes. He then turned to Jaejoong. “Is it safe for Yunho to go alone?”  
  
Jaejoong nodded his head. “I will be listening, but I don’t think Heechul would try to hurt Yunho.”  
  
“Also, Yunho wouldn’t be stupid enough to antagonize Heechul either,” Changmin said, admonishing Yoochun. “Especially knowing what a struggle it is for Heechul to even function at this level.”  
  
Yoochun recoiled as Changmin’s words struck home, and asked in a remorseful voice, “Is he putting him with Leeteuk?”  
  
“Yes,” Jaejoong answered as he got up from the table and started collecting dirty dishes.  
  
Yoochun shrank back in his chair. “He hates being locked up…I am such an asshole.”  
  
Changmin just stared at Yoochun’s guilty face, and stood up. “We need to head for the briefing, and we need to focus on the problem at hand.”  
  
“Agreed,” Yoochun said, getting up from his seat.  
  
************  
  
The lights in the room came on, and the ship’s computer greeted them in its overly efficient voice, “Good Morning Commander and Doctor Cho.”  
  
Kyuhyun and Ryeowook groaned at the same time. Kyuhyun tugged Ryeowook closer to him, causing the smaller man to bury his face in Kyuhyun’s chest. The both of them completely relaxed in each other’s arms, refusing to let reality intrude on them.  
  
Kyuhyun buried his head in Ryeowook’s hair and just inhaled the scent of his husband. How long had it been since Ryeowook had been so acquiescent with him? He couldn’t believe his luck, but he reminded himself to be careful. It was a wonderful feeling, waking up with the one you loved, and he didn’t want to squander it by giving into lust that would most likely not be greeted with enthusiasm.  
  
Still, he couldn’t resist allowing his hands to gently and softly touch the body next to him. How he missed his husband and the feel of his body. Kyuhyun’s hand slipped under Ryeowook’s shirt and started to explore the other man’s chest, when he came to sudden stop.  
  
“Fuck!” Kyuhyun exclaimed, jumping back like a frightened child.  
  
Ryeowook, who had not been sleeping as soundly as Kyuhyun had thought, snorted in amusement and grabbed the covers and pulled them up over his head.  
  
Kyuhyun calmed his heart and stared down at the bundle under the covers that was his husband. “It isn’t funny.”  
  
“Oh, believe me, it is hilarious,” Ryeowook told him, giggling from underneath the covers.  
  
Kyuhyun pulled the covers away from Ryeowook’s face. “It’s a little bothersome that I’m more bothered by your female parts…than you are?”  
  
“I’m a doctor. I’m not afraid of a pair of boobs or a vagina,” Ryeowook explained as he sat up, and for pure meanness sake, grabbed both of his breasts to emphasis his point.  
  
“Stop it!” Kyuhyun exclaimed, covering his eyes with his hands.  
  
Ryeowook fell back on the bed, laughing at Kyuhyun. “You are such a retard.”  
  
Kyuhyun uncovered his eyes and pressed his lips together, as he watched Ryeowook roll around on the bed, laughing at his expense.  
  
“Don’t worry, I won’t let the boobies get you,” Ryeowook sniggered, unable to control his fit of the giggles. Kyuhyun pounced on Ryeowook without warning, causing the other man to yelp, “Kyuhyun!”  
  
“I was just thinking, I’ve never willingly kissed a girl before,” Kyuhyun told Ryeowook, staring down possessively.  
  
Ryeowook swallowed nervously, noticing the change in his husband. “Well, considering your phobia of all womanly body parts, it isn’t surprising.”  
  
“Do I look afraid now?” Kyuhyun asked, straddling Ryeowook and bringing the other man’s arms up over his head where he held them tightly by the wrist.  
  
Ryeowook just shook his head.  
  
“I am going to kiss you.”  
  
“You don’t like girls.”  
  
Kyuhyun leaned down closer to Ryeowook’s face. “I don’t like girls, but I love you,” Kyuhyun told him, full of determination, as he reached down and pressed his lips against Ryeowook’s.  
  
Ryeowook cursed himself when he didn’t feign outrage and pull away, but no, instead, he was the one opening his mouth and deepening the kiss. Ryeowook knew he was in deep trouble when Kyuhyun loosened the grip on his wrists, and instead of taking the opportunity to escape, he found himself reaching up to entwine his arms around Kyuhyun’s neck and drawing him closer.  
  
“I don’t think so,” Kyuhyun said, pulling away from the kiss and Ryeowook’s hold on him.  
  
“What?” Ryeowook asked, stunned.  
  
Kyuhyun wiped his mouth with obvious dislike. “Did you even brush your teeth yesterday?”  
  
Ryeowook jumped up quickly, accidentally butting Kyuhyun in the head when he did. “I…I gotta get out of here!”  
  
Kyuhyun, who was holding his tender head with one hand, grabbed Ryeowook with the other. “Hey, I will happily make out with you as soon as you brush your teeth. I just can’t handle you as a girl and having bad breath…it’s a little much.”  
  
“You are the most horrible person I know!” Ryeowook cried out as he tried to jerk free of Kyuhyun.  
  
“Calm down, I think I might have a concussion,” Kyuhyun said, still holding his head with one hand.  
  
Ryeowook, with a burst of strength, broke free of Kyuhyun and yelled at him, “I hope you do! You better pray Heechul has a moment of lucidity, or you are going to be up shit’s creek without a paddle!  
  
Kyuhyun looked up at the irate woman from where he sat on the bed and repeated, “Up shit’s creek without a paddle…who says that?”  
  
“Now you’re mocking me? You are the sorriest-”  
  
The chirp of Commander Cho’s insignia on the bedside table stopped Ryeowook’s rant.  
  
“Commander, the briefing has started,” the captain’s voice could be heard saying.  
  
Kyuhyun grabbed his insignia. “Captain, I will be right there.”  
  
“I will see you when you arrive, Commander,” the captain replied before ending the connection.  
  
“Computer, what time is it?” Ryeowook asked, suddenly curious, forgetting his tirade for the moment.  
  
“The time is 0905hrs,” the computer replied.  
  
“Five after nine!” Ryeowook shouted. “I told it to wake me up at 0530!”  
  
“Computer, who ordered you to change the time of the wake up call?” Kyuhyun demanded of the computer.  
  
“Captain Jung Yunho,” the computer answered.  
  
Ryeowook clenched his fist together, and grumbled under his breath. “That damn Joong!”  
  
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Kyuhyun cussed as he started stripping off to jump in the sonic shower.  
  
Ryeowook stormed from the quarters, not bothering to shower or change.


	3. Chapter 3

“Rough night?” Jaejoong asked in his most innocent-sounding voice, as Ryeowook sat down next to him at the briefing with a cup of coffee in his hand.  
  
Ryeowook, who was wearing the same uniform from yesterday and had not taken the time to clean up, hissed at the man. “We are going to have a little talk about privacy later - and your total disregard for it.”  
  
“Good luck with that,” Yunho muttered under his breath, as they all waited for Kyuhyun to appear.  
  
Jaejoong reached under the table and squeezed Yunho’s thigh.  _“Be nice to me.”  
  
“I am so nice to you.”  
  
“I want you to be really nice to me.”  
  
“Here at the briefing? I would lose the respect of my officers.”  
  
“I promise you wouldn’t…their respect would only grow by leaps and bounds.”_  
  
 _“I think we should wait for lunch.”  
  
“What are we having for lunch?  
  
“I intend on having you.”  
  
“I can’t wait…to be had.”_  
  
Changmin ignored his father and Jaejoong, who looked like they were about to start copulating at any moment. Changmin looked around the table at the other people seated. Yoochun kept yawning, Ryeowook looked like he had slept in his uniform, Sungmin looked twitchy, Donghae kept readjusting his shoulders, and Shindong kept checking out Sungmin’s female body.  
  
Kyuhyun breezed into the room, looking entirely refreshed. “Sorry I’m late,” he told them, before taking his seat between Changmin and the captain. “I just had the most refreshing night of sleep since - I don’t know when.”  
  
Jaejoong quickly reached out and grabbed Ryeowook’s hand before the doctor could throw a cup of coffee at his perky husband.  
  
“Well, it’s nice of you to join us! Some of us are eager to get this briefing over with, so we can figure out how the hell to get our old bodies back,” Yoochun snapped.  
  
“Commander, you are actually still in your body. Your body has just undergone a transformation,” Changmin patiently explained.  
  
“I want it to transform back,” Donghae spoke up, unable to hide his stress.  
  
“Me too. I just want to look how I did two days ago,” Sungmin informed them all. “I don’t want to be a woman.”  
  
“Which is a crying shame, because you make one hell of a fine-looking woman,” Shindong added, whistling at Sungmin in full admiration.  
  
Sungmin, who was sitting between Yoochun and Shindong, replied in a razorblade-sharp voice. “You do know I’m completely capable of killing you with my bare hands.”  
  
Shindong leaned back in his chair away from Sungmin and said appreciatively, “Hot, like fire.”  
  
Yunho coughed, clearing his throat and said in his best command voice, “Let’s start this briefing. Changmin, would you please share your findings with us?”  
  
  
*************  
  
“It’s too dangerous…I can’t allow this,” Yunho told the three men in front of him after watching the simulation.  
  
Yoochun, who was sitting beside the captain in one of the many science labs on the ship, covered his face in frustration and groaned, “I know…but it’s impossible to be sure of the risks unless we test it.”  
  
“I agree it is too dangerous,” Changmin said in agreement with the captain.  
  
Donghae, who was standing beside Changmin, said, “That’s easy for you to say.”  
  
“If I had to choose between being female and having my full mental capabilities, or being a male with brain impairment, then I would choose to be a female,” Changmin answered back without hesitation.  
  
Yoochun sighed. “Lieutenant Lee, they are right. It’s too risky…we are just going to have to think of something else.”  
  
Donghae sat down beside Yoochun, slumping in his seat and feeling drained. “I know it’s only been a couple days…but it seems like so much longer.”  
  
“We need to go back to the planet,” Changmin said, voicing the thought that they had all been toying with. “Probes are very efficient at gathering data, but what we really need is to get down there and get a proper understanding of the mechanics of the technology involved.”  
  
Yunho sat up straighter in his chair. “I think you are right…we need to go back to the planet.”  
  
Jaejoong, who had been dozing off in his chair beside Yunho, came to full alertness quickly, “You are not allowed to be a girl!”  
  
“What I am saying is…what if going back to the planet is the answer?” Yunho explained, ignoring Jaejoong’s outburst. “What if we have been making this too complicated? This was a planet dedicated to pleasure…I don’t think anybody would have undergone the change if the technology wasn’t capable of changing them back.”  
  
“The reasoning behind your hypothesis is… so simplistic and basic,” Changmin pointed out to the captain, but he was quickly inputting data into the computer in front of him. “Perhaps that is why it did not occur to me.”  
  
“Lieutenant,” Yunho said, narrowing his eyes at his son, offended.  
  
Yoochun stood up. “But it makes perfect sense! Why the hell didn’t I think of it?”  
  
“You think it will really work?” Donghae asked, full of hope.  
  
Changmin, who was still focused on the readings in front of him, answered, “There is a high possibility, but there would be risks.”  
  
“What if it turned you into an animal next?” Jaejoong suggested.  
  
Yoochun sneered and reminded them, “I highly doubt that, it’s a planet dedicated to the joys of sex.”  
  
“Some people have strange fetishes. There was once a Joong couple where one of them turned into-”  
  
Yunho held up his hands. “Jae, nobody wants to know how that sentence ends.”  
  
Donghae eyes widened and asked, “If it changed us into an animal…would we keep our minds? If we did…” Donghae trailed off and looked at Jaejoong. “Could you still read our minds if we were animals?”  
  
“I can read Yoochun’s just fine, and he’s a dog,” Jaejoong replied.  
  
Yoochun gave Jaejoong a scornful look. “So not funny, and it’s insulting.”  
  
“True,” Changmin agreed. “It’s very insulting to Lady, our yellow Labrador back home.”  
  
“I miss that dog,” Yunho said with longing, causing Donghae to laugh.  
  
Yoochun folded his arms and glared at the rest of the people at the table. “If you guys are done mocking me, I think this idea is worth checking out, and I volunteer to beam back down to the planet.”  
  
“Me, too,” Donghae quickly volunteered.  
  
“It would be unwise to beam down there at this time. The area of the planet we need to return to is experiencing night, and it’s -40 degrees at this time,” Changmin informed them.  
  
“Plus, I would feel safer if we checked over some more data before we beamed down there,” Yoochun conceded.  
  
“Agreed, then at 0700 in the morning, if nothing has changed, Commander Yoochun and Lieutenant Lee will beam down to the planet. We will all meet in the transporter room at 0645 hours,” Yunho stated. “You all are dismissed for now.”  
  
As Yoochun and Donghae left the room, Jaejoong got up and stretched. “Thank God, I’m starved.”  
  
“Well, you could have been cooking something to eat instead of sleeping in here all day with us,” Yunho told his lover as he got up.  
  
Jaejoong walked over to Yunho and wrapped his arm around the other man. “Ryeowook’s all moody with me today, because I was kind enough to let him get some extra sleep, so no cooking lessons for me today. I feel guilty practicing on my own…there aren’t that many supplies left from Trysor.”  
  
Changmin, who was still sitting at the table, spoke up, “I could actually assist you with that.”  
  
“You could?” Jaejoong asked, immediately excited.  
  
“Yes, I have been working on a program with the food replicators to provide food in its raw form, and I have been completely successful in my attempts,” Changmin explained as he got up. “Although it may still lack the taste of real food, it would allow you to hone your skills.”  
  
Jaejoong attention was entirely on Changmin now as the three of them left the science lab together. “The other problem is that somebody is always reserving the galley. I want to give everybody a mental nudge to avoid the galley, but your father always gets on his high horse about that sorta thing.”  
  
“Yes, well, he is like that,” Changmin said, completely straight-faced.  
  
Jaejoong swatted Yunho on the arm and declared, “It’s so annoying.”  
  
“Behave yourself,” Yunho told Jaejoong, trying his best not to interrupt whatever camaraderie was forming between his mate and his son. He strongly suspected that Changmin’s love for food was outweighing his distrust of the telepath.  
  
“Actually, there is also an answer to that problem,” Changmin informed Jaejoong, causing Yunho to immediately frown.  
  
“Changmin,” Yunho warned.  
  
“If Yunho would take the captain’s quarters, then there is a kitchen in those quarters,” Changmin explained.  
  
“Wait. We aren’t staying in the captain’s quarters?” Jaejoong asked Changmin, confused.  
  
Changmin shook his head. “No, Yunho has the same quarters he had as a lieutenant commander; he has never claimed the captain’s quarters.”  
  
“And I am not going to. Those quarters belong to Captain Seung, and that’s final!” Yunho said quickening his speed and walking away from them. Yunho did not feel it was right to move all Captain Seung’s belongings into storage…it felt wrong…it felt disrespectful. His quarters were plenty big enough for him and Jaejoong.  
  
Jaejoong watched as Yunho hurried away and looked back at Changmin. “Isn’t Captain Seung dead?”  
  
“Yes,” Changmin nodded his head in agreement. “The quarters also have two extra guest rooms, and a real bath.”  
  
“Real bath…like real water…like wet water!” Jaejoong could not hide his joy as Changmin nodded his head in agreement. Jaejoong screamed after Yunho, “Yunho, you owe me this! You can’t deny me real water.”  
  
Yunho stopped and turned around and faced them both. “Yes, I can! It would be wrong. Wrong, I tell you. Disrespectful to his memory.”  
  
“Yunho, I love water! I wasn’t made for sonic showers….I need the feel of real water against my skin! The old captain is dead; he doesn’t care if we live there!” Jaejoong proclaimed loudly, catching up with Yunho and hugging him tightly. The thought of the real baths that he could share with his lover were making him dizzy with excitement.  
  
Yunho glared at his son, who just stared back at him expressionless, and told him, “You are the devil’s spawn!”  
  
“No, I am your spawn,” Changmin told Yunho, unable to hide his smile.  
  
  
*************************  
  
When Junsu opened the door, he hadn’t been expecting anybody, but he most definitely had not been expecting Commander Yoochun, who brushed past him to enter Junsu’s small, modest quarters.  
  
Junsu had just woken up from a very long sleep. He was wearing nothing but a white undershirt and a pair of shorts. The day before, the captain had ordered out of nowhere for him to take the night shift, after he had already completed his day tour earlier that day. He had been exhausted. Dealing with Lieutenant Yesung when he was fully awake was hard enough, but dealing with the man when he was sleep deprived had been nearly impossible.  
  
“Do you mind if I change into something more comfortable? These uniforms are not very comfortable,” Commander Yoochun asked, but he did not wait for an answer.  
  
Junsu watched in stunned silence as Commander Yoochun got into the dressing chamber to change his clothes. He barely managed to squeak out a, “What?”  
  
Commander Yoochun, who was adjusting the dressing chamber controls from inside, answered, “The uniform isn’t very comfortable in this female body. It’s too constricting.”  
  
“Constricting,” Ensign Junsu repeated. This was not a good idea; he knew that instinctively. Yoochun had claimed to be his friend, but it was a very tentative friendship…that still made Junsu very nervous.  
  
Junsu felt his breathing increase and fear trickled down his spine as Yoochun stepped out of the dressing chamber in a very flimsy, low cut, red night gown that hid none of his feminine curves. “This is much better,” Yoochun stated, not taking his eyes off the younger man.  
  
Junsu backed away from Commander Yoochun, but found that his small room did not allow for much distance between the two of them. Junsu stopped when he bumped into the back of his bed. “I think you should probably-”  
  
Yoochun was in front of him instantly, pushing Junsu down to sit on the bed. “Why so nervous?” the older man asked innocently, but the eyes that looked down at Junsu were anything but innocent. The calculative eyes took in the ensign’s discomfort, loving every minute of it.  
  
Junsu watched with wide eyes as the commander sat down beside him, leaning forward and allowing a full view of his cleavage. “I’m…I…think you should go, Commander.”  
  
“Where is the fun in that, Junsu?” Yoochun asked as he reached over and started sliding his hand up and down the younger man’s thigh.  
  
The instinct to flee lost out to a more basic…desperate need. “Why are you here,” Junsu managed to get out, as Yoochun’s hand slid up higher.  
  
“I thought we could help each other to feel good.”  
  
Junsu nervously swallowed, suddenly unable to speak. Junsu knew that if this was a game of cat and mouse…he was the mouse, and Yoochun was the cat.  
  
Yoochun moved his hand away from Junsu’s thigh to take his hand. Yoochun then lifted the hand up to cup one of his breasts, causing a soft whimper to escape Junsu’s lips. Yoochun closed his eyes and asked, “You like girls don’t you, Junsu?”  
  
Junsu nodded his head as his hand started moving of his own volition to explore Yoochun’s breasts.  
  
“I am very curious about this body of mine…and what pleasure it can bring me. Junsu, will you help me?” Yoochun asked in a soft, seductive voice as he slipped his free hand down and pressed against Junsu’s cock. “Can we find pleasure together?”  
  
Junsu nodded again, trembling all over, unable to speak.  
  
Yoochun scooted back farther in the bed and Junsu found himself trailing along after him. Yoochun gracefully laid down on his back, reaching out for Junsu and pulling him down with him. “Kiss me, Junsu. Will you please kiss me?”  
  
Junsu, who was leaning over Yoochun, didn’t bother answering; he just bent down and kissed Yoochun. Junsu had kissed others before, but none of the kisses he had experienced in the past were anything like this. Yoochun was an excellent kisser, and the hunger in Yoochun’s kiss took Junsu’s breath away.  
  
The kissing continued, and Junsu barely managed to keep from crushing Yoochun with the weight of his body. After what seemed like several minutes, Yoochun turned his head to the side, abruptly breaking away from the kiss, gasping for air. In the instant that Yoochun pulled away, Junsu thought he had seen fear in the other’s eyes. “Commander, are you okay?”  
  
“Yes, I am perfectly fine…wonderful,” Yoochun answered as he reached for Junsu and started working on getting the younger man’s shirt off. “It’s just that I know the captain has you on the night tour again tonight, so we don’t have much time. We should get down to business.”  
  
“Business?” Junsu asked as he found the courage to slide his hand over Yoochun’s body. He slowly explored Yoochun’s body, admiring every curve.  
  
“The business of relieving you of that pesky virginity, of course,” Yoochun said, sitting up and pushing Junsu back as he pulled the younger man’s shirt over his head.  
  
“Oh,” Junsu barely managed to answer as he sank his head into Yoochun’s breasts, unable to resist them.  
  
Yoochun flung Junsu’s shirt to the floor and then ran a hand through Junsu’s hair, as the virgin’s head remained buried in his breasts. The older man remained patient, allowing the inexperienced man to find his courage, as he slowly started to kiss and suckle the breasts.  
  
Yoochun obeyed when Junsu grew bolder, moaning with barely suppressed desire, pushing him back down on the bed. The engineer bit back a smile as the flimsy nightgown tore apart as Junsu grew impatient in his desire to touch every part of Yoochun’s female body.  
  
Yoochun laid there, letting Junsu feed his desire, as he gently caressed the other man’s waist, encouraging him. Yoochun stared at the ceiling, trying to push troublesome thoughts out of his head. This was completely mutual, he reminded himself…and it was just sex. Just sex he reminded himself, but when Junsu pressed a hand between Yoochun’s thighs, he quickly pushed Junsu away and ordered, “Lay on your stomach.”  
  
Junsu groaned in disapproval, but followed Yoochun’s instructions, and laid down on his stomach, pressing into the mattress. Yoochun sat back up and quickly relieved Junsu of the rest of his clothes. Yoochun licked his lips as he stared at the naked ass that he had desired for so long. He bent down and kissed it, causing Junsu to jump. “I have wanted this for so long, so long,” Yoochun whispered as he ran his tongue across Junsu’s opening, making Junsu thrust into the bed. “Finally mine.”  
  
Something in Yoochun’s voice registered with some part of Junsu that was not controlled by desire. The cat and the mouse analogy from earlier reappeared in his mind. He was the prey to Yoochun’s predator.  
  
Junsu quickly turned over on his back staring up at Yoochun, reminding himself this was a man. Yoochun looked down at him, puzzled. “Would you like me to lick something else?” Yoochun asked and reached out a hand and started to stroke Junsu’s cock.  
  
A part of Junsu screamed yes, but another part stared into Yoochun’s eyes and saw something…a perverse desire. A desire that had never died, only been subdued. Yoochun had always wanted him…wanted to possess him. The older, more experienced man had stopped groping him and treating him like a sex object at every turn, but for Yoochun, the desire to possess him had never diminished.  
  
When Yoochun was in the body of a man…Junsu had enough sense to run from the man’s obsession. Yes, obsession. The older man was obsessed with possessing him…having him. Commander Yoochun had admitted to him that there was darkness inside of him. Was it the darkness that wanted to possess him…consume him, Junsu wondered. They had never been friends, and they never would be, Junsu suddenly realized.  
  
“Junsu!” Yoochun cried out as Junsu got up from the bed quickly. “What are you doing?”  
  
“I am getting dressed, and then I am going to get as far away from you as this ship will allow,” Junsu told him as he quickly put on his shorts. Junsu had never wanted to flee anybody as badly in his life. He hated that he had been so weak to allow himself to be in this situation. Yoochun didn’t care about him…he just wanted him, and Junsu felt filthy.  
  
“What? Why?” Yoochun exclaimed.  
  
Junsu slipped his shirt on and looked at the woman…the man, Junsu reminded himself…not a woman, but a man. “This is no good.”  
  
“No good?” Yoochun repeated at a loss. “I promise you it will be.”  
  
Junsu just shook his head at the other man. “I was so wrong to ever think you were my friend.”  
  
“I am your friend!”  
  
“No, you’re not. I am some obsession of yours, and you just want to devour me.”  
  
Yoochun slid to the side of the bed, reaching out his hand for Junsu. “Stop freaking out. Just take a deep breath…its okay. This is just sex…its okay to be afraid your first time.”  
  
“I might be an innocent virgin…but I don’t think its just sex,” Junsu told him, keeping out of the other man’s reach.  
  
Yoochun laughed at him. “I promise you I have no romantic notions when it comes to you.”  
  
Junsu felt as if he had been slapped, and suddenly, he realized why it felt so wrong. “Then I am so glad I stopped myself, because being used by you…well, that isn’t how I want my first time to be.”  
  
“What!” Yoochun yelled, standing up now. “We were using each other!”  
  
Junsu shook his head in disbelief and hurried out of the room, but Yoochun heard his parting words, “I don’t use people; that’s not who I am.”  
  
  
*******************  
  
  
Yoochun stormed into sickbay, not bothering to hide his foul mood. He felt the need to tear something apart. Unfortunately for Sungmin, he was all Yoochun found in the empty sickbay waiting room.  
  
“Where is everybody?” Yoochun demanded of Sungmin, who sat alone, staring at the wall. Sickbay had become unofficial base for those who had been transformed, and Yoochun had planned on finding the others.  
  
Sungmin turned his gaze to Yoochun and answered, “They are in Ryeowook’s office, playing poker.”  
  
“Poker?”  
  
“Yeah, they are teaching Shindong how to play.”  
  
Yoochun noticed a familiar sadness in Sungmin - one the other man could never completely rid himself of. “Who are  _they_?”  
  
“Donghae, Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, and Shindong, of course,” Sungmin responded as he darted his eyes away from Yoochun’s scrutinizing eyes.  
  
“Kyuhyun?”  
  
“He’s been here all evening, trying to make amends with Ryeowook for something he did. He doesn’t appear to be having much luck.”  
  
“So, you are hiding out here?” Yoochun asked, full of contempt.  
  
“I’m not hiding.”  
  
“The hell you aren’t. You are sitting out here bemoaning the fact that he never loved you.”  
  
“Stop it.”  
  
Yoochun sneered down at him. “You should have always known…everybody else did. Sex and love have nothing to do with each other.”  
  
Sungmin stood up and faced Yoochun, his eyes blazing with carefully controlled anger. “That’s enough.”  
  
“You have to learn to separate love and sex. For instance I’m going to find me somebody, and I going to let them fuck me real good. It will have nothing to do with love, and I’m perfectly okay with that.”  
  
“As a woman?” Sungmin asked, startled out of his anger at Yoochun’s proclamation.  
  
Yoochun nodded his head with enthusiasm. “Hell, yes! We have been given a rare opportunity, and I intend to reap the rewards.”  
  
Sungmin shook his head and sat back down. “Yoochun, you are too much.”  
  
“If you were still a man, I’d let you fuck me…maybe it would rid you of some of your sentimental notions,” Yoochun told the other man.  
  
Sungmin continued to shake his head, and answered crudely. “I prefer to be fucked.”  
  
“Then go for it. There is a ship full of female-loving, sex-deprived men out there, and you look better than anything they have seen in over a year, and probably longer.”  
  
“I couldn’t…it wouldn’t be right,” Sungmin said, resisting the idea. “It would be really strange afterwards.”  
  
“Then pick somebody mature enough to know it’s just for sex. Wonderful sex with no strings attached. Make it clear that it’s only for the night…don’t pick somebody like you. I mean, even after a year of Kyuhyun using you as his own personal sex doll…you are still hindered by idiotic romantic notions,” Yoochun said, picking at Sungmin’s festering wound.  
  
Sungmin controlled the urge to punch Yoochun and instead said in cold, controlled voice, “Can you stop with that?”  
  
“It’s true.”  
  
Sungmin stood up again in Yoochun’s face and hissed, “Do you think I don’t know that?”  
  
“If you know it, then let him go! Quit moping over a man that will never love you back. He loves Ryeowook. The two of them are so disgustingly in love, it makes me want to puke,” Yoochun spat back at Sungmin, not the least bit intimated.  
  
Sungmin clenched his fists, hating Yoochun…hating Yoochun so much for being right. “You should leave now.”  
  
“Oh, I’m leaving,” Yoochun promised. “I have many plans for tonight.”  
  
Sungmin watched as the other man walked toward the exit. There was something so dark and angry about Yoochun tonight. He hoped he was careful with who he chose…because there was something inside him just itching to lash out. “You stay the hell away from Junsu,” Sungmin shouted after the man.  
  
Yoochun came to a complete and abrupt stop, and twirled around, facing Sungmin. “Why do you say that?”  
  
“Because I don’t know what has seeped into you tonight…but Junsu is too pure for you. You would only taint him,” Sungmin told Yoochun, loving the look of horror in Yoochun’s eyes as he hit a nerve. Sungmin watched in satisfaction as Yoochun turned and fled sickbay.  
  
“Is everything okay?”  
  
Sungmin jumped at the sound of his old lover’s voice. Sungmin turned around shocked; he had not heard the door to Ryeowook’s office open. Sungmin just stared back at Kyuhyun, who had that familiar look of guilt all over his face.  
  
“Everything is fine,” Sungmin answered.  
  
“We heard raised voices,” Kyuhyun explained, pointing toward the Dr. Cho’s office, where they were playing cards.  
  
Sungmin looked at Kyuhyun, realizing the guilt on the other man’s face was not inspired by love. Kyuhyun did not feel guilty because he hurt somebody he loved. Kyuhyun just felt guilty because he had used another human being who he had called “friend.” He felt guilty because he had caused so much hurt by his actions. “Yoochun was just being a jerk…but he was right in the end.”  
  
“Okay, then,” Kyuhyun replied as he headed back toward the office, but paused before entering. “Are you going to join us?”  
  
Sungmin smiled, appreciating the offer for what it was, but shook his head. “No, there is somewhere else I want to be.”  
  
*************************  
  
Siwon answered his door to find Sungmin outside it, with a look of longing in his eyes that Siwon had only glimpsed for second, earlier in the day.  
  
The taller man watched as Sungmin took in his appearance. Siwon had been ready for bed. He was only wearing loose fitting pants that were fastened around his waist by a drawstring. He wore no shirt, and his perfectly built chest and abdomen were on show. Siwon was well aware of how he looked. He was not in denial of his looks or in love with them either; they were simply a part of him.  
  
“Lieutenant…” Siwon trailed off, hoping to prompt the other person into speaking.  
  
Sungmin looked up at the astute eyes studying him and asked, “Can I come in?”  
  
Siwon stepped to the edge of the doorway, and reached out his arm, beckoning for Sungmin to enter. “Of course, I am always at your disposal.”  
  
Sungmin walked into the room, and the door whooshed shut behind him. He looked back at Siwon and did not bother to hide the blush that had spread across his face at Siwon’s words. Sungmin mastered his apprehension and spoke, “You seem well put together…I meant, a well adjusted person.”  
  
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Siwon replied, folding his arms, never breaking eye contact with the other.  
  
“You see I’ve been given a-” Sungmin stopped then and continued using Yoochun’s wording. “I have been given a rare opportunity, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit to a certain amount of curiosity.”  
  
Siwon leaned against the wall to his small room and asked, “Do you require my assistance with satisfying this curiosity?”  
  
Sungmin inhaled a deep breath and continued, “I think so, but only if you understand the terms.”  
  
“The terms?”  
  
“This would be sex and nothing else. You do know the difference between sex and love?”  
  
A smile broke out on Siwon’s face, and replied carefully, “I am very aware of the difference.”  
  
“Then you know…this would just be for our enjoyment - well, hopefully, it would be enjoyable,” Sungmin said, laughing nervously.  
  
Siwon stepped closer, and reached up, tucking a piece of hair behind Sungmin’s ear. Siwon was well aware of how awkward this offer must be for the other man. “What are the other terms, Lieutenant?”  
  
Sungmin fought the temptation to fling himself at the handsome prince, his attraction growing by the second. “We never speak of it. Not with each other or anybody else. Tomorrow, if God is willing, I will be back in my male body, and I will still be your boss. We must continue on like before.”  
  
Siwon studied the beautiful woman in front of him, who was actually a beautiful man. A beautiful man who he had pulled from a river months ago, saving his life. Sungmin had been broken then, torn and battered and pleading for forgiveness.  
  
As Ryeowook’s friend, Kangin had insisted that Siwon should care nothing for the man, but something about Sungmin had compelled Siwon to ignore Kangin’s warnings. Sungmin’s wounds had gone deep…much deeper then the claws of the bear had penetrated. Something about Sungmin drew Siwon in, and even if he had never physically desired Sungmin in his male body, the same was not true of the female body he inhabited now.  
  
Siwon was a man, and he enjoyed beautiful women, and although Sungmin’s mind was that of a man…Siwon could ignore that fact if Sungmin was willing to do the same. “I agree to those terms.”  
  
Sungmin’s breathing increased as his excitement spread throughout his body, only realizing now how much he wanted the handsome man. When Siwon swooped down and lifted him into his arms, he did not resist; instead, he draped his arms around Siwon’s neck and proclaimed with a laugh, “You are carrying me like I’m a princess.”  
  
“I am a prince, after all,” Siwon reminded him as he walked toward the bed with Sungmin in his arms.  
  
  
**************  
  
  
Changmin entered to the transporter room to find Yunho already there, standing behind the transporter panel.  
  
Changmin walked over to his father and looked down at the panel, arching an eyebrow. “You ran a diagnostic?”  
  
“Yes, I’m completely capable of running a diagnostic.”  
  
“I am well aware of that, but it is not usually the duty of the ship’s captain.”  
  
“Well one of the perks of being the ship’s captain is that I can do whatever I want,” Yunho snapped back at him.  
  
“Is there some particular reason you are in such a foul mood this morning?”  
  
“Hmm…where do I start? When Jaejoong wasn’t flipping and flopping all over the bed, he was waking up every hour cursing me for denying him real water, and I did get kicked out of bed last night. And when I say kicked, I mean literally kicked out of bed. He said it was an accident, and he was dreaming of playing soccer…but for some reason I can’t really envision them playing soccer on the Joong home world,” Yunho said, enlightening Changmin on his horrible night.  
  
“I would like to point out that if you were in the rightful quarters of the ship’s captain, you could have easily gotten up and went to one of the guest rooms to sleep,” Changmin logically pointed out to his father.  
  
Yunho glowered at his son. “Don’t think I don’t know you are behind all this. I know this has everything to do with your appetite!”  
  
“Correct,” Changmin conceded. “I see real potential in Jaejoong’s cooking, and I wish to encourage it. Jaejoong having his own kitchen to practice in could result in some delicious delicacies.”  
  
Yunho couldn’t help but smile. “I wanted you two to get along…I just didn’t want to be your victim!”  
  
“Victim is too harsh of a word. If you would simply give in, then your world would be completely peaceful.”  
  
“No,” Yunho said stubbornly.  
  
Changmin rewarded his father with a rare smile and said confidently, “We will see.”  
  
Before Yunho could respond to his son’s unspoken challenge, Yoochun entered the room, and immediately had all of Yunho’s attention. “You look like shit.”  
  
“Thanks Yunho, I love you, too,” Yoochun grumbled as he walked over to the two other men. “Ryeowook is bringing me a little wake-me-up, so don’t start stressing on me.”  
  
“Have you even slept since the transformation took place?”  
  
Yoochun shook his head, answering Yunho, and stared down at the transporter panel. “Changmin, did you already run a diagnostic?”  
  
“No, the captain did,” Changmin replied, also studying the engineer with concern.  
  
Yoochun looked up at Changmin and then to Yunho. “You know I’m a horrible person…I’m not worthy of this much concern.”  
  
Yunho immediately pulled Yoochun into a hug, embracing him tightly. “That’s not true.”  
  
“Oh, dear, you are in a hugging mood, and nobody warned me,” Yoochun fussed, feigning reluctance, but he didn’t move away from the warm embrace of his friend.  
  
“It would appear that Jae did not satisfy Yunho’s personal contact quota. I will be sure to avoid him as much as possible today,” Changmin explained, sounding completely reasonable.  
  
Yunho pulled away from Yoochun slightly and snatched Changmin, pulling his son into the embrace. “Do you want some of this?”  
  
“Captain, this is not dignified!” Changmin protested and Yoochun just laughed, feeling warmer than he had in days.  
  
Yunho reluctantly let go of them. “Changmin, sometimes a hug is good for the soul.”  
  
“That is illogical.”  
  
“What’s illogical,” Ryeowook asked as he entered the transporter room with Shindong.  
  
“The captain is,” Changmin answered.  
  
“That’s why he has you, so he doesn’t have to be logical,” Ryeowook told Changmin as he walked up to Yoochun with disapproval in his eyes. “Why you would allow yourself to get in such a state is beyond me. I should have hogtied you to a bed last night and sedated you!”  
  
“Yes, doctor,” Yoochun answered, not wanting to risk an argument. He also resisted the urge to ask what exactly a hogtying was.  
  
Ryeowook injected Yoochun with a hypospray. “When you get back to the ship…you will sleep, or I will sedate you. Do you understand me?”  
  
“Yes, Sir,” Yoochun told Dr. Cho.  
  
“Where is the other one? I want to find out if this works. I like my breasts on women. I am ready to get rid of these girls,” Shindong informed everybody, while cupping a breast with each hand. “Plus pissing while sitting down is not natural.”  
  
“I second that,” Ryeowook confirmed. “Where is Donghae?”  
  
“I’m here, never fear!” Donghae said as he entered the room with Eunhyuk and Sungmin. Eunhyuk was arm in arm with both Donghae and Sungmin.  
  
“I thought I would escort these ladies,” Eunhyuk said, looking extremely chipper.  
  
Sungmin pulled away from Eunhyuk and gently slugged him. “I am going to make you think lady.”  
  
“I am just glad he didn’t drool on us,” Donghae stated, moving toward the transporter platform.  
  
Sungmin looked at Eunhyuk suspiciously. “Very surprising,” he concurred. “Considering he’s a walking hormone most of the time”  
  
“I can control my hormones just fine,” Eunhyuk said in his defense. The ensign looked at Yoochun, who gave him a dubious look, causing the ensign to look away quickly.  
  
“Since when?” Donghae asked.  
  
Eunhyuk avoided Yoochun’s gaze and declared to his friends, “It would be weird since you two are still my very best friends.”  
  
“I thought Junsu was your best friend,” Shindong asked.  
  
“Some people are blessed with more than one,” Eunhyuk quickly answered.  
  
Yunho, who had moved away from the transporter panel, letting Changmin take over put his arm around Eunhyuk. “Blessed indeed, Ensign.”  
  
Yoochun moved up on the transporter platform next to Donghae. “Well, let’s get this over with.”  
  
“Good Luck,” Yunho told them, and then nodded at Changmin to beam the two men down to the planet.  
  
Everybody watched as the two of them disappeared.  
  
“How long before we know if it worked?” Eunhyuk asked.  
  
“We were on the planet for several hours last time before the change took place,” Sungmin reminded them.  
  
“But we were only near that machinery for less then an hour,” Shindong pointed out.  
  
“True,” Changmin conceded. “It was most likely triggered by proximity.”  
  
“Or the fact that you and Yoochun were tearing it apart out of curiosity,” Ryeowook reminded them.  
  
Changmin frowned at Ryeowook. “We were not tearing it apart; we were attempting to better understand its mechanics.”  
  
“Look where that got us,” Shindong grumbled.  
  
Yunho looked at the people in the room and opened his mouth to suggest they be more patient, but stopped when Commander Yoochun’s voice pierced the air, “Captain, it seems your hypothesis was correct; permission to beam me and Lieutenant Donghae aboard in our very male bodies.”  
  
The captain smiled and a loud round of cheers erupted in the room. “Permission granted; Changmin, beam them back aboard.”  
  
When the two men appeared back on the transporter platform, Ryeowook immediately greeted them running a scanner over them. “Oh, it looks like they are back to themselves. Physically, they are just as they were when they beamed down.”  
  
Changmin nodded his head. “The transporter scans also confirm this.”  
  
“I’m next!” Shindong shouted, hurrying to get on the platform.  
  
“All three of us are next,” Sungmin said, correcting Shindong as he took his place on the platform as Yoochun and Donghae got off it.  
  
Donghae jumped off the platform and hugged Eunhyuk happily, causing the other man to break out into laughter. “I’m not a dog either!”  
  
“Beam us down already,” Ryeowook commanded, standing between Sungmin and Shindong.  
  
Yunho nodded his head at Changmin, and the three men disappeared.  
  
“How does it feel to be back in your old skin?” Yunho asked a very relieved Yoochun.  
  
“It feels really good,” Yoochun informed Yunho.  
  
“What was the process like?” Changmin asked, immediately curious.  
  
“We arrived on the planet, got immediately zapped, and woke up male,” Yoochun explained.  
  
“Thank God!” Donghae declared again.  
  
 _“Yunho, when you are done restoring your crew member’s male body parts, can you send Changmin to the Galley?”  
  
“Changmin?”  
  
“Yes, Changmin.”  
  
“Did you cook something?”  
  
“Yes, I did.”  
  
“And I’m not invited?”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
“Jaejoong, are you really not inviting me?”  
  
“That’s correct.”  
  
“I thought you loved me?”  
  
“Don’t whine Yunho! You know I love you, but I plan on loving you even more when we have that nice spacious cabin.”  
  
“So now you are withholding food and sex?”  
  
“Yes, that would be correct.”_  
  
Yunho pushed Jaejoong out of his mind, and looked at Changmin, who was perched over the transporter, waiting for the away team’s signal. If Changmin and Jaejoong were both going to team up against him, he didn’t have a chance. They might be very different people but they were very similar in how…  
  
A huge feeling of unease came over Yunho as he watched his son, and thought of his lover. He suddenly felt like he was missing a very important piece to a puzzle. Changmin and Jaejoong were connected by more than just him…there was something similar about the two of them.  
  
Changmin turned to look at his father. “Is something wrong?”  
  
Yunho reached up and rubbed his left temple, suddenly feeling fuzzy headed. “I just feel like I’m missing something...something very obvious.”  
  
“Like what?” Changmin asked, immediately curious.  
  
Yunho shook his head. “I don’t know…it’s like it keeps slipping away. No, it’s more like it’s in my grasp, but then it gets yanked away from me.”  
  
Before Changmin could respond, Sungmin’s voice sounded over the communication system. “We are back to our manly men forms. Please beam us.”  
  
“You two are far from manly,” Shindong could be heard saying in the background.  
  
“Beam them up,” Yunho ordered, and whatever unease he had felt earlier was forgotten as Shindong, Sungmin, and Ryeowook materialized in their male bodies.  
  
“So are you done?” Jaejoong asked, shocking Yunho when he suddenly appeared beside him with one arm around Yunho’s waist, and the other gently resting on Changmin’s arm. “Let’s go eat.”  
  
 _“I thought I wasn’t invited.”  
  
“I changed my mind,”_ Jaejoong mentally told him as he reached up and kissed Yunho’s cheek.  _“I can never deny you for long, Precious Pet.”_


End file.
